old guy doesn't approve of 37 signals, shocking.
Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
31–40 of 68 posts
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#32Seriously, this is a rather typical old-economy response to a well understood concept at this point: Simple works. Coming from the inside of the enterprise web publishing world I'd suggest it's not 37signals that is missing something. Of course the author (of the review) did found a chain of restaurants...
"Simple works". Which is why they created everything with Forth on Rails. Oh wait... it's Tcl on Rails. No... Ruby? Ruby is not simple. It's actually a nice mix of elegance, simplicity and, where called for, fancy ways of handling complexity.
And they host everything on DOS. Because it's simple! No?
I think this stuff goes both ways... you can't just wave "simple!" around.
If you really wanted simple, you'd use a pencil and paper.
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#33I imagine the book is really only relevant industries where the real resource is the people and the profit margins can be massive. It seems that Jason's main point would be that in a tech. business you shouldn't squander that main resource (i.e. the people).
The closest analogy I can think to the tech. industry would be the music industry, since it's possible to make a record on virtually no money and have it sell millions. Now, you wouldn't expect Lady Gaga or Jay-Z to sit in endless meetings that they weren't needed in, when they could be making more records, would you?
Lots of other businesses are not really about the people in them like restaurants, bars, manufacturing etc. and that is what the reviewer is getting at. Though the reviewer doesn't seem to know the difference.
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#34from article "I have the pleasure of working with real businesspeople who care about doing a good job, not talking about doing a good job." Well, I don't know if he did research about the software that 37Signals has made, but I consider Ruby on Rails a "good job". I haven't used any of their other products (Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire), but I would bet that the 3 million people using them would consider th…
Isn't ROR free? By that standard, I'm sure the BBC is doing a good job.
ROR is free and so are most of the competitors and there a lot now. The BBC is doing a good job, it's news coverage is certainly one the best and most respected in the world and that's got nothing to do with it being free - people would certainly pay if they had to for it.
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#35It's important to realize that this "Rework" book is about the stuff that worked for 37signals and might work for you if you have a similar business. The review points out that this is not always the case from a management perspective and it's not always applicable to other business'.
From the inside flap - "REWORK shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you’ll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition." Note that the claim is not 'Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in a business that is similar to 37 signals. Maybe'.
The fact that an italian cooking book tells you that after you read it "you'll be able to cook amazing meals" doesn't mean you'll be able to cook amazing "thai" meals... It also doesn't mean that if you can mix things up and come up with food that you like better, it isn't good food.
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#36"Maybe in a low-risk software company you can 'just do it', but if, like a restaurant chain, you have capital expenditure, or you are moving a factory, you had better make sure you plan the move, the stock-build, the overtime, the working capital and service implications."
The author of the review is the "co-founder of Leon Restaurants". Maybe he sees everything from this perspective, and that's why doesn't agree with anything in the book. I think the book is about advice meant for (tech) startups, not restaurants.
"And perhaps if the authors had followed the advice about 'build half a product, not a half-assed product' and 'underdo your competition', the book would have been a deal better."
Is he really trying to say that 37signal's apps are bad ?
All in one I found the review biased and hypocritical, but I'm yet to read the book, so until I do I'll refrain from further comments on the topic.
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#37Wow: this review, and now these comments, what a microcosm of the generation gap...
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#38"Maybe in a low-risk software company you can 'just do it', but if, like a restaurant chain, you have capital expenditure, or you are moving a factory, you had better make sure you plan the move, the stock-build, the overtime, the working capital and service implications." The author of the review is the "co-founder of Leon Restaurants". Maybe he sees everything from this perspective, and that's why doesn't agree wit…
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Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the inside flap - "REWORK shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you’ll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition." Note that the claim is not 'Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in a business that is similar to 37 signals. Maybe'.
The fact that an italian cooking book tells you that after you read it "you'll be able to cook amazing meals" doesn't mean you'll be able to cook amazing "thai" meals... It also doesn't mean that if you can mix things up and come up with food that you like better, it isn't good food.
Now I'm hungry and still completely confused about the point you are making.
Re: Management today review of 37signal's "Rework"
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Meetings are toxic" was in their last book. It's a hyperbolic title, but the content is more subtle. http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch07_Meetings_Are_Toxic.php "Fire workaholics" was a blog post. http://37signals.com/svn/posts/902-fire-the-workaholics The review was defensive, because 37signals prove that many typical management techniques are not necessary for success. This is a status risk for the review author,…
Sorry, but I just absolutely detest this sort of writing, where you make outlandish claims, then fallback to a ridiculously obvious position. It's a bait+switch, and it's used way too often. You don't get any real insight, you just read what you already know. Meetings Are Toxic Don't have meetings For those times when you absolutely must have a meeting (this should be a rare event), stick to these simple rules: And t…
Regrettably, having a brain is not a requirement at many companies, because having an agenda for a meeting is uncommon in my experience. (And let us not mention the quality of the agenda when it is used.)
You are clearly not the target audience for this book. As a victim of far too many pointless daily and weekly meetings, I'm looking forward to reading it.