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A review by peter__b
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
4.0
Calling this a book is a bit disingenuous since it's really more a collection of mostly anecdotal insights with a very specific context. There's very little structure here and it definitely has a feeling of an 'us vs them' mentality when talking about most of the ideas it brings up. However, it kinda works. It gets its message across without the usual fluff that these types of business books usually have and I found myself agreeing with the concepts most of the time.
Does it make some ideas sound easier to implement than they probably are? Almost definitely. Does it fail to acknowledge many root causes for the way things are usually done? Very often, actually. Should their insights and suggestions be discounted because of these and other minor flaws? No. Treating employees as people with lives outside of work shouldn't really even be a debate at this point. A mentality of 'succeed at all costs' isn't healthy in the long term and this book makes a great argument that it doesn't have to be that way to run a successful business.
I think the core principle behind this book is that the current norms in most businesses aren't actually that great and it sets out to highlight some examples of how one company has gotten success by taking a calmer approach and putting its employees first. Would I want to work in an environment like the one they describe? Definitely. I often found myself comparing it to my current place of work and realizing why so many aspects are frustrating and counter-productive in many ways.
It's a short read and definitely worth it if you're not familiar with the author's work. It does require the obligatory pinch of salt, but even if many of the ideas aren't quite applicable to you, it's worth having them pointed out and thinking on them since most are actually just good sense that people ignore because we're so stuck in this weird work culture that really doesn't work on so many levels.
Does it make some ideas sound easier to implement than they probably are? Almost definitely. Does it fail to acknowledge many root causes for the way things are usually done? Very often, actually. Should their insights and suggestions be discounted because of these and other minor flaws? No. Treating employees as people with lives outside of work shouldn't really even be a debate at this point. A mentality of 'succeed at all costs' isn't healthy in the long term and this book makes a great argument that it doesn't have to be that way to run a successful business.
I think the core principle behind this book is that the current norms in most businesses aren't actually that great and it sets out to highlight some examples of how one company has gotten success by taking a calmer approach and putting its employees first. Would I want to work in an environment like the one they describe? Definitely. I often found myself comparing it to my current place of work and realizing why so many aspects are frustrating and counter-productive in many ways.
It's a short read and definitely worth it if you're not familiar with the author's work. It does require the obligatory pinch of salt, but even if many of the ideas aren't quite applicable to you, it's worth having them pointed out and thinking on them since most are actually just good sense that people ignore because we're so stuck in this weird work culture that really doesn't work on so many levels.