For those of you outside the tech/startup/software world, REWORK is the highly anticipated 2nd title from the web-based software development firm 37Signals. Aside from being a current user of multiple 37Signals business productivity apps, I’m an active follower of their philosophies when it comes to business, design, management, culture, and more simply – how to get sh*t done.

One of the first books I read when entering the startup world was 37 Signals’ Getting Real, which explained their nuanced approach to software development and project management. While there were many takeaways, the focus on building a software application made it occasionally difficult to relate (although a revisit now would probably be very insightful). Their most recent release, REWORK, is more focused on business, project & time management, and creating the right foundation for a successful company. I found about 60% of their points to be relevant and within that, a healthy mix of things we at Ampush Media do pretty well, things we could improve on, and things we suck at. Needless to say, it’s a great read for anyone who works for a living. Here are some of my favorite points from the book to give you a sampling:

Workaholism

It’s poisonous. When you tell yourself you’re going to work all weekend, or stay late this week, you release the pressure to be efficient. You’re implicitly subtracting thinking smart, finding solutions, and innovating and adding brute force ‘hours’, hoping the equation balances. Unfortunately, that math never works out. Not to mention, you’re less happy if all you do is work.

Draw a line in the sand

I’ve learned one of the most important things in business is to constantly push the ball forward & make progress even if its tiny steps. That becomes a big challenge if you don’t stand for anything, because you have no vision, no dream you are championing and relentlessly pursuing. If you don’t take a stand, you don’t have any context for making your decisions and you end up mulling, deferring, or getting distracted. “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

Start a business, not a startup

Finally, some affirmation! While we at Ampush love to think of crazy, innovative ideas, we were certain to embark on our entrepreneurial journey by starting a real business, not a cool idea. To us, that means we sell a product/service with a clear value proposition and defined revenue model, we win over and retain accounts by outcompeting, differentiating and providing excellent customer service. It means we grow organically, and re-invest all of our gross profit to build and improve, and innovate. This section reminded me of this post from our fellow penn Alum Josh Kopelman

Making the call is making progress

My co-founder, Jesse Pujji, is the most skillful debater I know. He can take any side of any debate and list out 5-10 compelling reasons on why either decision is the right one. Combine this inborn skill with our heavy ‘analytical’ backgrounds, and you can understand why we admittedly suffered from analysis/paralysis on more than one occasion. Since those early days, we’ve learned how to tame (timebox) our analytical rigor and simply make a call, and move on. The reality is, when we do less ‘analyzing’, we not only make progress, but we tend to make better decisions!

Focus on what wont change

I love this advice for designing/selling anything to humans. Focus on traits & user preferences that just wont change (like simplicity, ease of use, speed). This point also reminded me of a related term we loved on Wall Street – look for a secular trend – a market phenomenon that will continue for many years and will not be reversed by seasonality or cyclicality (like the use of the internet, ageing baby boomers, or growth of cell phone usage in India).

Interruption is the enemy of productivity

Between phone calls, tweets, facebook messages, text messages, chat, emails, voicemails, and EVEN live human interaction, we are bombarded with interruptions throughout the day. I’m a firm believer that any real work that needs to get done (work that requires thought/focus) requires a buffer period to ‘get in the zone’. It’s asymmetric though – it only takes a simple interruption to fall out of the zone. So when you want to get stuff done, its best to create some isolation, close Outlook (yea i’m old school), silence your phone and don’t resurface until you’ve hit your productivity goal.

Strangers at a cocktail party

Jesse’s younger brother Vinny asked me the other day – why do grownups always talk about the weather? You talk about the weather when you’re with strangers and looking for some small talk to break the ice a bit. I actually don’t mind that too much. BUT – you never want that culture/feeling within your office – and if you hire too fast, or don’t hire for cultural fit, you may end up with a culture of strangers. We want our team to be like a brotherhood (or siblinghood). We’ve already been through some fire and I’m proud to say these guys are the brothers I never had.

Send people home at 5

My dev team is laughing right now. But seriously, I think it’s important to time box the day (unless it’s a critical next day deliverable) and make sure you hit your goals by the end of the day. If you don’t, it’s either because you were inefficient, or you underestimated the time it takes. Solve your inefficiency or problems with time estimation.

Four Letter Words – need, must, just, only, fast, ASAP

Some of the most dangerous words in the dictionary….

The word Just oversimplifies and assumes away all the details of any proposition. “Let’s just start a cash flow business”

Telling a colleague you Need something by sometime is basically an ultimatum – and people generally don’t like ultimatums.

Make sure you know what you are asking for when you say ASAP. It means speed above all else (quality, accuracy, thoroughness).

If you want some more , read the book!

Nick Shah

Co-Founder, Ampush Media

Follow Me: www.twitter.com/aniketkshah