REWORK: The new business book from 37signals.

So I just finished reading Rework. I like it very much - there is a lot of common sense here. And we all know the saying - common sense is not very common.

On hiring: I especially like the part about hiring. Where they suggest doing the job yourself first so you clearly understand what it is. We've hired a lot of people and took on a lot of weight/baggage - sometime to fix issues that were systemic. So instead of fixing the issue we through a body at it.

On Meetings: They say meetings are toxic. Of course not all meetings are toxic - but many are. I am going to try a no meetings day at work. People need time to get into a groove. Meetings interrupt that groove.

Ok - now that I've sung the praises here are a few reality checks. 37Signals essentially works for themselves. Of course they have customers, even raving fans of which I am one. But they do not have clients. This is a whole different type of environment, especially when you get into more complex industries like pharma marketing keeping things as simple is very difficult. We have to have policies, compliance officers, deep documentation, security audits etc. Look at basecamp for example - we can't use it. It does not comply with SOX, it does not have time sheets that roll up to functions - all requirements in our industry. Another example is simply prototyping in html as they suggest won't work. We are required to submit technical documentation.

Also - size makes a difference. As far as I know 37 is about 16 people. Simple is simple at that size. When your at 70 people simple is harder. You can do the job before you hire someone to the job for you. I can't be a compliance officer - I wouldn't know how.

All in all I love the book - and hope to run my start up with some of the same mentality. And I'm and avid user of their products. But they are not living in a prototypical situation. Of course they may be very much more profitable than some larger companies so no one can say they are wrong - just not the norm.

It's a good book with a lot of sound advice but I believe it's probably a good idea to not take it as gospel law. When reading these types of books, you'll find a lot of conflicting ideas with other books so I imagine the best thing to do is look for the universal, non-conflicting ideas that people agree on and use them.

I'm guessing, as goodlab said, that what works for one business isn't always going to be completely applicable to another.