I read the (Re)work book of Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson and I have one word: AMAZING, because it sublimes many of my thoughts as a software engineer and just adds arguments to a lot of conundrums I encountered during the years creating software and most importantly working with people to accept the realities of software development.
I felt even a tinge of envy as they are the first to outline very simple truisms of the life of a small company. They had the nerve to say it when the elephant in the room was omnipresent for some and invisible for others:
- don’t need to hire people until you are really hurting by doing their work
- do quick releases and short development cycles, let the product speak for itself
- do not always listen to your customers because sometimes they drive you in the woods; when all of them are screaming it is an urgency !
- get out of the people’s way and let them work in the best condition that you can offer: the best tools, the best hardware, let them pick their tempo and time during the day
- use tools that will make your life and future development faster, easier and automatic – CRMs, build processes, monitoring software and trend key performances
- the interviews are mostly irrelevant; trial work periods / contracting are giving you the complete image of a new employee
P.S The next already on my bookshelf is their other book – Remote.