Needs work
The authors of Rework claim it was edited down from 57,000 words to 27,000, and that the book is better for it. One of those claims is easy to believe; the language is clear and direct. But whatever fluff was taken out should have been replaced with some substance.
The comments section of on my report on Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point echoes Voltaire that common sense is not common, and attribute Gladwell’s success to this fact. I like to give Gladwell a little more credit; perhaps his conclusions areor should becommon sense, but he went to the effort not just to assert his conclusions but to research and analyze them. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson gave us a book of common sense without any of the support or analysis Gladwell supplied.
Stop telling me how great you are, show me!
I haven’t much patience for authors who congratulate themselves. Congratuling themselves for pedantry is that much worse. The authors claim to challenge the conventional business wisdom (is this an oxymoron?) The introduction claims that it will «gut» business and rebuild it. The first chapter talks of the «new reality» we work in. They hold up examples of what «a lot of people say» in contrast with the authors’ own wisdom. It’s great that they believe passionately in their own ideas, but it reads as though they’ve started to believe their own PR.
The first sentence of the introduction claims that the authors have new ideas, and the second sentence says that these aren’t academic but based on their own experience. What follows is a collection of 200 – 300 words declarations. That’s not just concise, it’s sparse to the point where the advice loses its usefulness. As a result, the book comes off as being academic. It’s almost 300 pages (not really, but I’ll get to that later) of appeal to the authors’ own authority. Conventional wisdom says one thing and the authors have tried it and it didn’t work. So there. On to the next topic.
Aside from their claim to authoritythey’ve been in business for ten whole yearslacking authority, the book needs to explore ideas, not just assert them. A few concrete examples would go a long way toward making the book accessable. A few digressions into underlying principles or supporting arguments would go a long way toward making the book believable.
The problem? It’s difficult to let the ideas sink in. I’d start reading, and finish a chapter on average forty seconds later. What am I supposed to do then? Go on to the next idea and forget all about this one.
The best way to use this book might be to read it in a group or with a partner. Read a chapter out loud, and then discuss it for five minutes, or ten minutes, or however long it takes to flesh out the ideas. That’s great I suppose, but I’m of the opinion that it’s the writer’s job to flesh out ideas for me. This wasn’t a book, it was a Powerpoint slideshow on paper.
And that’s exactly the bigger problem. This wasn’t even a Powerpoint slideshow, it was a blog. Not a blog like Monochromatic Outlook where there’s no editing for length, either. This book almost could have been fit into 37Signals’s Twitter feed. Even a collection of very brief essays can have overarching structure and a progression of ideas. Rework has very little tying the discrete essays together. The essays don’t build on one another and each doesn’t lead to the next. They just sit there without relation or cohesion. As a result, what might be valuable advice is simply lost.
Illustrations made the book
A review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Mike Rohde’s illustrations. They are fun, punchy and effective. Rohde deserves a lot more credit than he got (a mention at the bottom of the copyright page which, not incidentally, is located at the back of the book) for turning this diffuse collection of essays into an enjoyable experience. 88 of the book’s 277 pages are full-page Mike Rohde illustrations, and that doesn’t count the fifteen full-page chapter headings. Guys? You filled 174 pages. If each author contributed equally, each filled 87 pages. Rohde filled 94. Don’t you think a mention on the cover is called for?
The illustrator turned this pamphlet into a book. My rating of Rework without Rohde’s input to the book would have been one and a half stars instead of two and a half. Moreover, it sold the book to me when I leafed through it. Opening a small book to find 18-point type with generous leading is a disappointment akin to taking a swig of hot water from your coffee cup. I bought a Mike Rohde book. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson wrote some complementary text.
The authors of Rework can talk all they like about wabi-sabi, keeping the flaws, and being proud of what is left out, but all of that is predicated on putting value in in the first place. For twenty-two dollars in hardcover, I expect a good deal more than a book that can be finished in the time I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment.
Go see Mike Rohde’s «sketchnotes» work.
Do take a look at 37Signals’ blog Signal vs Noise. I think it makes a much better blog than book.
