Book Review: Rework: Change The Way You Work For Ever

Book Review of Rework: Change The Way You Work For Ever

Here is my review for the book: Rework. I completed reading the book in the 2nd week of June 2020.
Here are some of the key points from the book that have great wisdom. The authors have written their own experiences in starting their business from scratch, growing it, and running it.

• You don't need to delay starting your dream projects because you don't have enough time, you're busy with your family, or you don't have the infrastructure to carry on your things. What matters is starting your project and growing from that.
• You can run a profitable business with a few people, having a small or no office, and selling to smaller companies (fortune 5000000). 
• You can run a successful business without spending huge money on advertising or marketing.
• We're living in a different world now. The things that were out of reach are now available to everybody. The cost of doing business has dropped down significantly. Now anybody can be in business and work for themselves without spending a fortune. You can write a blog, vlog, open an eCommerce store, teach people online, make wonderful courses that people need. And many things that were earlier may cost you tens of thousands but now they can be done with least spending or even free.
• You can run a business on the side without quitting your day job. You don't need to be doing miserably 60-100 hours a week. Only 10-40 hours are more than enough to run your business now.
• Don't run away from an idea because someone was failed trying doing it. That is their way of doing. Rather learning from mistakes learn from successes. Learn what works and forget that does not work.
• Don't concentrate on big plans or do planning for a year in advance because you would lose focus and may not complete it. Instead, plan for a week or do the planning for the next most important thing and complete it immediately.
• "Small is a great destination in itself". You don't need to have a big team to do wonderful things and earn a profit. Sometimes even your laptop and you are a team that is more than enough.
• You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to be doing it all the time and feel a lack of more time. Learn to do things more smartly.
• You only need an idea, confidence, and a push to start working on your dream project.
• Be creative and replace an old way of doing things to a better and efficient way of doing that could save time, and provide more value.
• Make the product for yourself. If it solves your problems it would solve others. James Dyson, Vic Firth, Mary Kay Wagner solved their problems and invented something that became a breakthrough.
• Actions matter, not planning or just thinking about something. If you just do the latter you're wasting your time. Don't make excuses for not having enough time. If you want something bad enough, you have got the time to work for it. There is no good time coming, what you have is just start doing now.
• You need to believe what you're doing and why you're doing. You can't please everyone.
• Start with as little money as possible and avoid outside funding. Outside money slowed down the growth and creativity and you lose control of your things. Hey, you need less than you think. Remember, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft all started in garages. Start a profitable business and be committed to it. Focus on providing values to your customers not seeking buyers for your business.
• Constraints are not always bad. They have helped people come up with creative and innovative solutions. START WITH WHAT YOU HAVE NOW.
• Don't try to do everything all at once. Chop your ideas to half. And once you have done something then move to another one. Focus only on "What you have to do" not on " could do" or "want to do". Find the epicenter and work on it.
• Don't go into too much detail and waste your time in delaying starting something. Instead, focus on basics first and move to specifics later. You can ask yourself if you don't know what to do here" What can we easily do now that is good to move further". If you delay then you lose motivation and momentum. It is better to be a curator and focus on essentials. And then follow the "do it now attitude".
• Focus on the permanent features of your business or on things that don't change often. Also, look at the by products of your work and capitalize on them. You have always got more than you do.
• Don't wait for perfection that would never come immediately. Have a clear deadline, write off the unessential and launch it as it gets ready. Don't waste your time on something that is not worth your time. Time is the most precious element and use it on the things that only matter.
• You can't work whole the day. Nobody can do that way. Instead, be productive and work only when you can't be distracted. So, be alone, cut yourself off from distractions and achieve boatload of work done. 
• Keep yourself busy on getting things done not on things that eat up your time. Don't waste your and your teammates' time on useless meetings.
• Build momentum on small wins because they would further fuel up the process and you would achieve more. Have small and daily targets, and celebrate after you complete them.
• Not everything would work and if you're living with the same situation then just walk away. It is better to work on things that are yielding than on things that are just eating up your time.
• A small to-do list is better than a long to-do list. A big list and you're in too much stress to complete, leaving it without doing anything. Prioritize everything. 
• Don't copy and focus on delivering unique solutions. Don't worry if your product solves a very simple problem until it solves. People love simple things with a simple solution. Always focus on improving yourself rather than thinking about your competition and wasting your mental energy jumping from one idea to another.
• Build loyal audiences and share value pieces of advice they require.
• Find what are the things that your competitors can't do and focus on providing those things to people. Teach what you do and people would love it and become your audience. 
• Don't hide real you because people love seeing reality. If you're too polished, you have no soul.
• Once your product is launched and you're confident of it, offer it to people for a trial run without any payment. If they like the product then they would surely convert to your product users.
• You would not succeed right away. It would take time if you start doing it now.
• Be a good learner and try to learn things rather than hiring someone immediately. 
• Hire only those people who know the work rather than relying on resumes, work experience, GPAs, and fancy college degrees. Make your hiring decision based on the fact that "how well someone is doing it not on how long someone is doing it". Hire people who do the work and not the delegators. There is huge talent available globally and now with the advancement of technology, you can benefit from it. Test your candidate in the real work environment to get the best candidate.
• If any mistake is committed then take responsibility and try to solve it. And keep updating the steps you're taking to solve it. Don't wait for someone else to point fingers on you and derail all your goodness. Say real sorry not fabricated sorry.
• Be in the frontline when dealing with customers. If you create any hierarchy in communicating your customers then your message is distorted. The message that reaches the customer is not the real message which was communicated. This is just useless.
• Make a great work environment and people would deliver beyond the expectation. Make them responsible for the task and they would come up with the solutions you never expected. They would over-deliver in quality and quantity. 

Inspiration does not last long. It expires and so when something strikes in your mind that you think is good to accomplish the best time is to do it now. Inspiration is a wonderful thing and you could achieve more if you use it right. Inspiration multiplies your productivity and you could do two weeks of work done in only 24 hours. So, use it wisely.