An extract of Rework: Change the way you work forever
http://sharkinfestedcustard.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/rework-jason-fried.pdf:*
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*Throw less at the problem*
Watch chef Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and you'll see a
pattern. The
menus at failing restaurants offer too many dishes. The owners think
making every dish
under the sun will broaden the appeal of the restaurant. Instead it
makes for crappy food
(and creates inventory headaches).
That's why Ramsay's first step is nearly always to trim the menu,
usually from
thirty-plus dishes to around ten. Think about that. Improving the
current menu doesn't
come first. Trimming it down comes first. Then he polishes what's left.
When things aren't working, the natural inclination is to throw more
at the
problem. More people, time, and money. All that ends up doing is
making the problem
bigger. The right way to go is the opposite direction: Cut back.
So do less. Your project won't suffer nearly as much as you fear. In
fact, there's agood chance
it'll end up even better. You'll be forced to make tough calls and
sort out
what truly matters.
If you start pushing back deadlines and increasing your budget,
you'll never stop.
*Embrace constraints*
I don't have enough time/money/people/experience. Stop whining.
Less is a
good thing. Constraints are advantages in disguise. Limited
resources force you to make
do with what you've got. There's no room for waste. And that forces
you to be creative.
Ever seen the weapons prisoners make out of soap or a spoon? They
make do
with what they've got. Now we're not saying you should go out and
shank somebody--but
get creative and you'll be amazed at what you can make with just a
little.
Writers use constraints to force creativity all the time.
Shakespeare reveled in the
limitations of sonnets (fourteen-line lyric poems in iambic
pentameter with a specific
rhyme scheme). Haiku and limericks also have strict rules that lead
to creative results.
Writers like Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver found that forcing
themselves to
use simple, clear language helped them deliver maximum impact.
The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in history, is
also a great
example of creativity born from embracing constraints. The show has
more than a
hundred games, and each one is based on the question How much does
this item cost?
That simple formula has attracted fans for more than thirty years.
Southwest--unlike most other airlines, which fly multiple aircraft
models--flies
only Boeing 737s. As a result, every Southwest pilot, flight
attendant, and ground-crew
member can work any flight. Plus, all of Southwest's parts fit all
of its planes. All that
means lower costs and a business that's easier to run. They made it
easy on themselves.
When we were building Basecamp, we had plenty of limitations. We had
a design
firm to run with existing client work, a seven-hour time difference
between principals
(David was doing the programming in Denmark, the rest of us were in
the States), a small
team, and no outside funding. These constraints forced us to keep
the product simple.
These days, we have more resources and people, but we still force
constraints. We
make sure to have only one or two people working on a product at a
time. And we always
keep features to a minimum. Boxing ourselves in this way prevents us
from creating
bloated products.
So before you sing the not enough blues, see how far you can get
with what you
have.
*Start at the epicenter*
When you start anything new, there are forces pulling you in a
variety of
directions. There's the stuff you could do, the stuff you want to
do, and the stuff you have
to do. The stuff you have to do is where you should begin. Start at
the epicenter.
For example, if you're opening a hot dog stand, you could worry
about the
condiments, the cart, the name, the decoration. But the first thing
you should worry about
is the hot dog. The hot dogs are the epicenter. Everything else is
secondary.
The way to find the epicenter is to ask yourself this question: If
I took this away,
would what I'm selling still exist? A hot dog stand isn't a hot dog
stand without the hot
dogs. You can take away the onions, the relish, the mustard, etc.
Some people may notlike
your toppings-less dogs, but you'd still have a hot dog stand. But
you simply cannot
have a hot dog stand without any hot dogs.
So figure out your epicenter. Which part of your equation can't be
removed? If
you can continue to get by without this thing or that thing, then
those things aren't the
epicenter. When you find it, you'll know. Then focus all your energy
on making it the
best it can be.
