Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Book Review of the Week-ish)

Some books are easy to recommend. They’re filled with information and insights that reflect “universal truths,” applicable to any business. Then, there are books like Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s Rework. It’s not that I don’t recommend the book; I do. It’s that the authors have such a distinct perspective on how to run a business today that it may shock you.

Now, some of their ideas, I agree with completely. For instance, it’s hard to argue with items like:

• Start a business, not a start-up. As the authors note: “A business without a path to profit is a hobby.”
• Tone is in your fingers (i.e., gear doesn’t matter). As a former professional musician, I can’t begin to tell you how true this one is. When I was a kid, I usually assumed I had the wrong guitar. Turns out, not so much.
• They’re not 13. The “they” in this one means your employees. You want your employees to act like adults? Then you need to treat them that way. People usually respond to how they’re treated by reacting in kind.

But some of their other ideas, like “Planning is Guessing” and “Learning from Mistakes is Overrated,” make my skin crawl. But that’s a Good Thing. If there were a single simple formula we all could follow to grow our businesses, we’d have done that already, wouldn’t we? The best learning comes when someone challenges your established beliefs.

That doesn’t mean you have to agree with the new ideas, but, it’s worthwhile to examine them – and your established assumptions – to see which actually fit your situation. Is it possible you’re paying too much attention to your plans and not enough to your actions? Or spending too much time focusing on what happened in the past and not enough on moving forward on your desired future? Even when I disagreed with Fried and Hansson, they gave me something to think about.

Another nice thing? Rework is a dead-simple read. It’s something you can pick up, read a few pages and put into practice right away.

Is it a perfect book? Of course not. Is every idea in there genius? Hardly. But, Fried and Hansson have a clear and compelling point of view on what works for small business today – and a track record of success in their own business that says they know what they’re talking about. They claim they’ve built their company, 37signals, using these techniques and it seems to be working for them.

Will it work for you? Why not pick up a copy of Rework for yourself and see? Or download the Kindle edition. And let me know what you think of the book in the comments.

Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
book review, book reviews, books, business, Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle 2.0, success, 37signals, Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, rework, rework book review