Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business
https://www.amazon.ca/Riding-Waves-Culture-Understanding-Div...
Literally rethought everything following this read.
Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
751–760 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#752Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (I don't know which translation I read). Imagine the plot of three or four excellent movies woven together. It struck me how little human nature changes over time and across cultures. It also features some fascinating Russian history as a backdrop. As a person who almost exclusively reads non-fiction, it changed my view of how powerful fiction can be. I can't fathom what must've been in T…
19th c Russian literature is awesome. It might be personal, but Russian literature has a very special place in my heart. I recommend reading other works of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. I also strongly recommend Gogol and Chekhov.
Thanks, I’ll definitely check out Gogol and Chekhov.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#753Maybe trite, but the Bible. For a mind-blowing experience, read Matthew chapters 5–7, and have in mind that the topic is: “what it means for a person to be righteous, or good.” The analysis of the role of moral rules, the place of worry and anxiety in driving us to short-sighted compromise, the tension between “secret” good-doing versus good-doing for public recognition, are all potent, helpful, and life-changing.
Props to you, putzdown, for bringing this up. The Bible is an often overlooked trove of wisdom
You dont even have to take it literally. I learned from Asop's fables and I acknoledge animals can't talk. What I got from Noah's ark wasnt that God is a genocidal maniac or he loves us all very much, but that if you know what needs to be done, do it and don't care what others think.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#754Definitely "The Machine That Changed the World" by Womack, Jones, and Roos [0]. This is "the first book to reveal Toyota's lean production system." Before reading it, I had never imagined just-in-time production or value chain mapping, or vehicle assembly lines that can profitably produce quantity one of a product before being reconfigured to produce a different model (SMED: single minute exchange of die). Now I see…
In software people use agile as an excuse to not think through the core architecture. I believe agile was invented to incrementally improve an already well thought production process. Once the assembly line was setup, agile was used to eliminate the unproductive activities. I am not sure agile will be helpful to build the assembly line itself? In most scenarios that's what people try to do with agile.
I don't think that is a good comparison.
Setting up a mechanical assembly line is very different from setting up a software pipeline, although, as you can tell already, they use some of the same words and metaphors.
It isn't possible to build a mechanical factory in weeks with readily available tools [0]. We just don't have that kind of concentration of knowledge, we don't have the skills, the know-how etc. to accomplish that. Whereas with software: you have OSS, you have the Cloud, and all kinds of numerous tooling that helps you get started immediately, and iterate on that until you get to the final product. That kind of iteration, debugging etc. is just not possible with manufacturing. Which is why in manufacturing you need great designs and processes: bad decisions are very costly. They are costly in software too, but... your MVP will still churn out value, even if its not efficient. Once you prove that your product satisfies a need, you then make it better, you make it more efficient, scale it out, yadda yadda. But getting started is absurdly easy. And thats why lean works.
The designers of lean realized that all that worry about scaling, about automation, planning, QA... while its important, it doesn't provide the most value for everyone. For a smaller company, its more important to get out a product that solves a problem even if its janky. Once you prove its usefulness, you attract more money, more people etc.
So lean solves two problems: * gets you started quickly and fails bad ideas fast * lets you justify bad design if it provides more value
One could argue that the technical debt built up by this kind of process has to be paid down someday. If your product survives for long enough, you will have enough resources to do that. And then you have a core product that brings in revenue, and you repeat the same lean method for other products. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum.
[0]: where this assumption fails, you see a lot more manufacturing. e.g. in China, the fruits of this kind of aggregation in manufacturing skill is visible, and that's why Chinese manufacturers are so adept at responding to changing market conditions.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#755“The Design of Everyday Things” changed the way I see literally everything. You’ll never look at doors the same way again, and prepare to forever be frustrated by poorly designed objects, and delighted by incredibly well designed ones. There is no better book on the philosophy of UX, imho.
I haven't read the book but I feel like it would make me even more grumpy from noticing even more poorly designed things than I already do.
Have you heard the old design joke?
If you really hate someone, teach them about kerning
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#756Definitely "The Machine That Changed the World" by Womack, Jones, and Roos [0]. This is "the first book to reveal Toyota's lean production system." Before reading it, I had never imagined just-in-time production or value chain mapping, or vehicle assembly lines that can profitably produce quantity one of a product before being reconfigured to produce a different model (SMED: single minute exchange of die). Now I see…
Why did GM's people's salaries depend on not understanding NUMMI/TPS? I would have thought it would have been clear to them they either adapt or die, and thus their salary depended on understanding it.
The Chicken Tax. Because of it, US auto manufactures promoted and sold the one market segment where they had 0 to no competition. Even today, the big American automakers suck balls at making Sedans and focus exclusively on Trucks and SUVs.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#757I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this one yet: "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion", by Jonathan Haidt [0]. This book fundamentally changed how I think about religion and politics. It helped me understand a lot of behaviors which I'd previous considered absolutely incomprehensible. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Relig...
I'm part way through this now. But definitely recommended reading for sure.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#758Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg is an amazing eye-opener. It's a book about how how to interact with your fellow humans in a way that enriches the lives of everyone around you. It's full of things that should be obvious, but in practice are not. You can think of it as a more advanced version of Dale Carnegie's "How to make friends and influence people", with more focus on conflicts, and a specific c…
I use non-violent-communication (NVC) constantly, at work and at home. It basically is a method that forces you to listen and to speak without judgment. But “People Skills” by Robert Bolton is a much more scientific and nuanced approach that I’ve found greater success with. They key is to so ingrain these methods that you are no longer using a method. In the end, you simply really care about what people have to say,…
> I always say that computers are easy, humans are hard. Would love to see more recommendations about this topic.
I wouldn't go so far :). They're both hard; and need talented individuals to function together and come up with great ideas and processes on how to build, maintain and scale them.
And as nerdy engineers, we often discount the humans, which we ought not to do.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#759I read a lot of books. I also listen to a lot of books. Listening to Audiobooks in the shower is a true power move if you haven't tried it. I was sceptical until I realized that my medium-term memory was as good or better than for books I'd read.
Anyhow, few books have made as significant an impact on my life in both personal and professional circumstances than "Difficult Conversations" by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen.
A learned habit to stop and empathize with the motivations behind people's emotional upset has completely changed the way I interact with everyone in my life. I used to think that I was rational and a great communicator. I've come to understand that I've missed countless opportunities to comfort those I care about while saving myself literally years of stress.
Many of my regrets are based on retroactive realizations of how avoidable some of my communications failures actually were, given the long term damage that they helped to cause.
Please, read Difficult Conversations and give copies to people that you love.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#760Quran