Re-work

“Talk to customers the way you would friends. Explain things as if you were sitting next to them. Avoid jargon or any kind of corporate speak. Stay away from buzzwords when normal words will do just fine.”

Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson, founders of 37Signals, have just had their second book published. If you’re not familiar with their names, you may still have encountered software they’ve created that make the lives of small and medium businesses everywhere so much easier: productivity tools such as Basecamp, Highrise or Campfire and Ruby on Rails for developers.

Their new book, Rework, is a quick read and a great one. We have all read our share of business books, some of us have also worked with business coaches and, whilst these are worthwhile pursuits, they are also time-consuming to an extent that sometimes makes us question how long we need to wait to see results from our efforts.

In the book, the authors take their own advice and outline the lessons learned in the process of building 37Signals with no jargon and few four-letter words. There is a directness and simplicity to Rework that allow the short case studies and the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to hit home.

It will make you rethink how you run your business. It might also make you realise you know a lot more about how to do it right than some other business books may have led you to believe.