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wesbaker's review against another edition
4.0
I've only read it once so far, but I found myself rereading chapters regularly because 1) the main point of the chapter wasn't neatly condensed into a one-liner (which is neither good nor bad) and 2) the chapters moved so quickly that I felt like I missed something. There's a lot of good ideas in here, but whether you can actually make them happen at your company is a whole other matter. I feel like the advice in this book has several audiences and your use of this book largely depends on whether you're an employee, a manager, or an entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur would get the most out of this book, though they have to be willing to hear its advice and try it—it certainly goes against typical practices.
An employee will long for some of the ideas, but will only have so much power to make them happen. Some of the employee-applicable content will feel like common sense, but some of it runs counter to prevailing ideas, in particular the idea of not being constantly available.
A manager is somewhere in between the entrepreneur and the employee depending on their ability to change current practices, but they can be the champions for sane deadlines, trimming down scope, and protecting their employees' time. They can also be a good example for their team(s).
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I feel like I need to read it again, or at least read over my highlights, in order to get everything out of it. The short chapters lead to the idea moving quickly through my head and I want to better hold some of those ideas because they're worth holding onto.
An entrepreneur would get the most out of this book, though they have to be willing to hear its advice and try it—it certainly goes against typical practices.
An employee will long for some of the ideas, but will only have so much power to make them happen. Some of the employee-applicable content will feel like common sense, but some of it runs counter to prevailing ideas, in particular the idea of not being constantly available.
A manager is somewhere in between the entrepreneur and the employee depending on their ability to change current practices, but they can be the champions for sane deadlines, trimming down scope, and protecting their employees' time. They can also be a good example for their team(s).
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I feel like I need to read it again, or at least read over my highlights, in order to get everything out of it. The short chapters lead to the idea moving quickly through my head and I want to better hold some of those ideas because they're worth holding onto.
nikkimouse_16's review against another edition
4.0
This book is not for me. It’s for entrepreneurs and managers, CEOs and supervisors. To build the company and organization that is necessary to prevent burnout and high employee turnover.
evaward's review against another edition
5.0
Super surprised this was written in 2018: definitely thought earlier, but not sure why. tl;dr: would love to work at Basecamp!
kassandrik's review against another edition
4.0
Rating: 4.5 (Rounded down). Listened as an audiobook. Scatchy, advice list type of book with short chapters covering ideas for running the business based on authors' own experience. Authors state themselves that there are no best practices and business should adjust according to its needs. So I disagree with popular opinion here about selfcentricism in the book, some points might be doubtful at first but they are worth to consider.
Highly recommended to consultants, corporate world workers and enterpreneurs. I could give more rating if book had been more detailed in the explanation of some of the points.
Highly recommended to consultants, corporate world workers and enterpreneurs. I could give more rating if book had been more detailed in the explanation of some of the points.
mpquinn's review against another edition
5.0
I’m not one to write a review, nor do I read/listen to these books very often. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and gave me much food for thought on my work life. The narrator was really good and of course part of the headline is something I say frequently, it’s been crazy at work. I recently attended a webinar that Fried was speaking on and loved many of the things he talked about and thought I’d give his book a try. Talk about topics that made me wish my directors would read it! Although that may never happen and they will not likely have these same thoughts or ideas on the office, it definitely gave me some thoughts and ideas that I can slowly do for myself and maybe help improve my own team.
billmccartney's review against another edition
4.0
A quick read but it rehashes a lot of the same stuff from their other books. I enjoyed it but I wouldn't recommend it.
fairchildone's review against another edition
I'd like a version of this for lawyers.
The last third felt repetitive, but lots of good perspective on life, and an implicit criticism of the constant growth demanded by capitalism (especially publicly traded companies and investment vehicles). I can apply some to the practice of law, but there are aspects where it just doesn't fit or where I wouldn't be able to get buy in.
Very quick read and a nice poke at the current work zeitgeist.
The last third felt repetitive, but lots of good perspective on life, and an implicit criticism of the constant growth demanded by capitalism (especially publicly traded companies and investment vehicles). I can apply some to the practice of law, but there are aspects where it just doesn't fit or where I wouldn't be able to get buy in.
Very quick read and a nice poke at the current work zeitgeist.
essoen's review against another edition
4.0
To the point summary of various research on what makes us work best. Basecamp apparantly does a lot of it, and explains how they do it there.. Despite being a pitch for working at Basecamp, this was quite interesting.
migueldavid's review against another edition
5.0
It's rare for me to find a book whose title is it's weakest part. This is such a case. The title is not catchy at all, but having read all the books that Friedman and Hansson have written, I was pretty confident this would not be a waste of time.
The book is incredibly well written, like a statue, they carefully cleaned it up so that only juice/content remains. Which in turn makes the book super easy to read and short at the same time that it carries deep messages about how to work in the XXI century.
I highlighted half of the book, which should tell you how good I think it is.
Go read it, give a copy to your colleagues and managers!
The book is incredibly well written, like a statue, they carefully cleaned it up so that only juice/content remains. Which in turn makes the book super easy to read and short at the same time that it carries deep messages about how to work in the XXI century.
I highlighted half of the book, which should tell you how good I think it is.
Go read it, give a copy to your colleagues and managers!
jlsjourneys's review against another edition
3.0
As others have said, I like most of the ideas, but don’t know how translatable they are to large corporates. Absolutely worth a read. The one idea that didn’t resonate with me was on “no goals.” I get what the authors are saying on pushing back on superficial/artificial sales goals, but I do see a shared (and measurable) purpose help being teams together.