Review
This is a very interesting book, and you feel like you’re a part of the story the author is narrating. I am intrigued about the idea of remote work for a very long time, and if remote work is executed like Automattic has been doing in the last decade, it really can become the future of work.
I was impressed with the caliber demonstrated by the author while being a manager at Automattic, and the book is full of wonderful lessons that can be applied in your personal/professional life.
As the book draws to a close, the author talks about how work in the modern era might not be psychologically fulfilling and a better work culture might solve this. This struck a chord with me, as I’m more than often concerned with the “meaning” of work but as the author says, work and play might not need to be mutually exclusive.
Highlights
14 July 2020
What You Need to Know
Giving advice is easy;
It sure is!
14 July 2020
Chapter 1: The Hotel Electra
An amazing thing about our digital age is that the person next to you at Starbucks might just be hacking into a Swiss bank or launching multiwarhead nuclear missiles continents away. Or maybe he’s just on Facebook. You can’t tell the difference unless you’re nosy enough to peek over his shoulder.
14 July 2020
Chapter 2: The First Day
“I’m doubtful of attempts to change reality simply by changing something’s name. I could call Griz a wonder-dog-supergenius (WDSG), but that won’t stop him from spending most days chewing bones and chasing squirrels.”
19 July 2020
Chapter 4: Culture Always Wins
Product creators are the true talent of any corporation, especially one claiming to bet on innovation.
20 July 2020
Chapter 6: The Bazaar at the Cathedral
The inability to scale is one of the stupidest arguments against a possibly great idea: greatness rarely scales, and that’s part of what made it great in the first place.
25 July 2020
Chapter 6: The Bazaar at the Cathedral
The fundamental mistake companies that talk about innovation make is keeping barriers to entry high
27 July 2020
Chapter 8: The Future of Work, Part 1
When you read any two books on the same subject, you realize there is more good advice than anyone can possibly apply
27 July 2020
Chapter 8: The Future of Work, Part 1
All traditions are inventions; it’s just a question of how old the invention is.
5 August 2020
Chapter 9: Working the Team
The realization that everyone is different when you talk to them alone is a secret to success in life
5 August 2020
Chapter 9: Working the Team
“Asking the user experience question is the ultimate way to prioritize engineering work, as it shifts the perspective back to where it belongs: the impact that decisions will have on customers, not engineers. Both matter, but the customer matters more.”
5 August 2020
Chapter 10: How to Start a Fire
In other words, by regularly fixing small things, you prevent bigger problems from starting
7 August 2020
Chapter 10: How to Start a Fire
Just as there is an advice paradox, there is a data paradox: no matter how much data you have, you still depend on your intuition for deciding how to interpret and then apply the data.
7 August 2020
Chapter 11: Real Artists Ship
“It’s design, not functionality, that determines if people will succeed or fail in fulfilling the promises products have made to them.”
10 August 2020
Chapter 13: Double Down
To start big projects, you must have the capacity for delusion. All the rational people, despite their brilliance, are too reasonable to start crazy things
18 August 2020
Chapter 14: There Can Be Only One
Projects accumulate a pile of annoying tasks people postpone, but in order to ship the product, that pile must be emptied.
18 August 2020
Chapter 15: The Future of Work, Part 2
if you have people who trust each other and have similar goals, they’ll be effective with smoke signals and carrier pigeons. Wars have been won by tightly knit armies using candles and Morse code
23 August 2020
Chapter 19: The Rise of Jetpack
The natural mistake engineers make is to build from the bottom up
25 August 2020
Chapter 21: Portland and the Collective
Ideas are evaluated differently depending on the mouth they come out of.
27 August 2020
Chapter 22: The Bureau of Socialization
The first day of a new team on a short deadline is fascinating anthropology
27 August 2020
Chapter 24: The Future of Work, Part 3
While money provides status, status doesn’t guarantee meaning.
All Excerpts From
Scott Berkun. “The Year Without Pants”.
Looking for more?
All the books I’ve read are over at komura.