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143 reviews for:
Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead
Laszlo Bock
4.03 AVERAGE
143 reviews for:
Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead
Laszlo Bock
4.03 AVERAGE
"Never judge a book by its cover" right?
I was assigned this book as a mandatory class read in college. When I first picked up this book, I was not at all thrilled at the thought of getting through it. However, I appreciate the fact that I did read it, and I probably always will.
It was so much better than I thought. I even learned a lot on a personal level. The language is clear and ideals are well-elaborated. When that class was over, I found myself implementing the tips and tools discussed in the book. I mean its GOOGLE! It talks about how Google motivates their employees in such a way, that allows them to produce their best work.
After reading this and working for a few major companies, I saw how some of them followed suit. It was interesting to see how Google set such an infectious example.
I was assigned this book as a mandatory class read in college. When I first picked up this book, I was not at all thrilled at the thought of getting through it. However, I appreciate the fact that I did read it, and I probably always will.
It was so much better than I thought. I even learned a lot on a personal level. The language is clear and ideals are well-elaborated. When that class was over, I found myself implementing the tips and tools discussed in the book. I mean its GOOGLE! It talks about how Google motivates their employees in such a way, that allows them to produce their best work.
After reading this and working for a few major companies, I saw how some of them followed suit. It was interesting to see how Google set such an infectious example.
Yep, I'm the kind of person who reads these kinds of books now. In between the novels.
informative
medium-paced
I really liked this book. Some of the ideas and Google’s implementation of many HR topics has proven to be better than most (if not all) alternatives. But I couldn’t help but feel that there was too much banging the Google drum at times. I tried to filter that out and get to the message.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Interesting and enjoyable read- is a lot of this universally applicable?
No.
No.
Did this book transform how I live and lead? No. It's nowhere near as revolutionary or life changing as its subtitle would have you believe. It has a lot of interesting ideas, made even more interesting since they're from the context of Google. I'm sure most people have heard or seen glimpses of how Google supposedly works and treats their people, so having a book where those are explicitly divulged was nice. As with most business books, there were concepts I agreed with and a bunch I didn't see eye-to-eye with the author with, but luckily there were more of the former.
In terms of the writing, it wasn't the best. A few topics were very long-winded and unnecessarily repetitive. There also seemed to be a lot of statistics thrown around which I understand the desire for, especially coming from someone at Google, but they bogged the book down at times. On that note, I think it could have used a bit more editing. I'm sure they could have cut a third or more of the length easily without sacrificing on content. They could even have replaced that with more cases of failed initiatives and issues they've faced, which were some of the more interesting points in the book.
There are too many topics to go through all of them in a review like this, but I'll highlight some of the ones I agreed with or liked.
*Advocating for organisations to give their employees freedom and trusting them to use it wisely
*Knowing that people are more important than the processes
*Utilising the company's existing employees to teach others
*Striving for transparency from not only higher management but from everyone
*Embracing change in general, but making sure it's implemented with care and then tested and reviewed to make sure the changes are continuously working
*Disconnecting performance evaluation from developmental feedback
*Highlighting importance of intrinsic motivation and the counterintuitive benefits of monetary rewards
*How they used 'nudges' in an effort to improve their employee's lives without needing to resort to explicit rules
Here are some of the topics I didn't agree with or disliked. Most of these were because they were too specific to Google.
*Resources and time apparently needed in the hiring process
*Obsession with constant performance evaluation and the supposed 'need' people have for it
*Oversimplifying how they handle poor performance
*Not talking enough about how they handle entitlement issues amongst their workforce stemming from all the perks they offer
*Lack of info on aftermath of cases where projects failed
*Taking tracking and feedback practices too far. Seemed very 1984 at times. Sounded like a lot of time is spent on spying on people, making them fill out surveys or obsess about statistics in general
*After reading some better-researched reviews, I see now that the book isn't as sincere as it claims with employee turnover rates and female employment rates being very much within the industry norms and not significantly better as the author implied
This book made me think about a lot of aspects of how the company I work for does things. I thought starting the book emphasising how more employees should have a 'founder' mindset was quite clever since it makes the reader feel empowered to bring up possible changes within their own organisation. Despite the three stars, I'd definitely recommend this book to most people. There are a lot of good ideas here and it could be the nudge a lot of people and companies need to change and improve the way they work for the better.
In terms of the writing, it wasn't the best. A few topics were very long-winded and unnecessarily repetitive. There also seemed to be a lot of statistics thrown around which I understand the desire for, especially coming from someone at Google, but they bogged the book down at times. On that note, I think it could have used a bit more editing. I'm sure they could have cut a third or more of the length easily without sacrificing on content. They could even have replaced that with more cases of failed initiatives and issues they've faced, which were some of the more interesting points in the book.
There are too many topics to go through all of them in a review like this, but I'll highlight some of the ones I agreed with or liked.
*Advocating for organisations to give their employees freedom and trusting them to use it wisely
*Knowing that people are more important than the processes
*Utilising the company's existing employees to teach others
*Striving for transparency from not only higher management but from everyone
*Embracing change in general, but making sure it's implemented with care and then tested and reviewed to make sure the changes are continuously working
*Disconnecting performance evaluation from developmental feedback
*Highlighting importance of intrinsic motivation and the counterintuitive benefits of monetary rewards
*How they used 'nudges' in an effort to improve their employee's lives without needing to resort to explicit rules
Here are some of the topics I didn't agree with or disliked. Most of these were because they were too specific to Google.
*Resources and time apparently needed in the hiring process
*Obsession with constant performance evaluation and the supposed 'need' people have for it
*Oversimplifying how they handle poor performance
*Not talking enough about how they handle entitlement issues amongst their workforce stemming from all the perks they offer
*Lack of info on aftermath of cases where projects failed
*Taking tracking and feedback practices too far. Seemed very 1984 at times. Sounded like a lot of time is spent on spying on people, making them fill out surveys or obsess about statistics in general
*After reading some better-researched reviews, I see now that the book isn't as sincere as it claims with employee turnover rates and female employment rates being very much within the industry norms and not significantly better as the author implied
This book made me think about a lot of aspects of how the company I work for does things. I thought starting the book emphasising how more employees should have a 'founder' mindset was quite clever since it makes the reader feel empowered to bring up possible changes within their own organisation. Despite the three stars, I'd definitely recommend this book to most people. There are a lot of good ideas here and it could be the nudge a lot of people and companies need to change and improve the way they work for the better.
It's interesting to learn about HR ("People Operations") at Google because Google is viewed as an ultimate try-new-things and launch-test-refine sort of company, and Bock provides a good overview of their personnel-focused distinctives in this book.
As a forward-thinking, optimistic Silicon Valley company, Google believes people are good - Work Rules! is essentially an exploration of the implications of this organized into ten keys. People are good...so Google trusts its employees, gives them freedom, etc. Yet there are checks and balances to this trust and freedom (and examples of not-so-good behavior), and Bock notes those...while also maintaining the goodness of Googlers. There's a lot to ponder in that.
As a forward-thinking, optimistic Silicon Valley company, Google believes people are good - Work Rules! is essentially an exploration of the implications of this organized into ten keys. People are good...so Google trusts its employees, gives them freedom, etc. Yet there are checks and balances to this trust and freedom (and examples of not-so-good behavior), and Bock notes those...while also maintaining the goodness of Googlers. There's a lot to ponder in that.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Interesting to read about how Google handles HR. The idea of checklists for helping new people get started is appealing. I found it hard to find many practical lessons in this book.