Twenty Seven. It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
2018, HarperBusiness, 240 pages. Written in English, read in English.
(Medium are making me clarify issues regarding possible affiliate links in my articles so please read this.)
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, who identifies in Twitter and otherwise as DHH, founded Basecamp, a company that creates a product with the same name, that claims to provide organisations with all of the tools they need to manage their projects, time, and teams effectively. In addition, they have both wrote several best selling books that provide advice and evidence of how work and entrepreneurship can be done differently, based on the experience and success of their own company. Lately they have been fighting against the prevalent trend of working yourself to the bone in silicone valley in particular, and high tech in general — DHH, who I follow on Twitter, has been actively arguing with any CEO or productivity guru who claims the hustle and endless work are what get you ahead; I’m assuming Fried, who I don’t follow on Twitter, does the same. And the conclusion they have come to at this juncture appears to be the same they have come to on three previous occasions — they should write a book about it, trying to dissolve the myth of overwork as a badge of honour.
Naturally, most or all of the examples for each of what I would term the tech workplace anti-patterns, are taken from their own company, which eventually builds up into what seems like an elaborate recruiting document. A quick skip to their company’s website, which does not have a careers page, and several indications in the book, one of which claims that they only hire when it hurts, and even then, very selectively, would indicate that it is not intended to be a recruiting document. It’s intended to be a manifesto, in hope of other companies taking notice and trying to align themselves to the standard that is Basecamp, instead of the standard that is the endless, and useless, hustle.
Each of the sections of the book is designed as a commandment — a marker by which you need to align yourself in order to make your company, your workplace, saner. Within each section there are short, blog post length, chapters dealing with several of the common issues of the busy tech lifestyle — it starts with the mindset, offering to do away with all of the militant jargon which companies use for their day to day work and their aspirations, and ends with the most mundane things that you can think of, like the tools of the work, your inbox, and your office space.
The sad part of reading this book was that each chapter had me nodding my head and saying, “yes, they’re absolutely right, it should be that way,” as I’m sure many other readers of this book have. The hard part is implementing these, but they are feasible, one by one if not all together, and they all combine to create a saner workplace for everybody. Fried and Hansson have been wise to call their company Basecamp — as there are always two thirds more of the mountain to climb.
