At times this reads like a commercial for the greatness that is Toyota; there is no doubt that Toyota is a company worth studying but I'm not sure it'...moreAt times this reads like a commercial for the greatness that is Toyota; there is no doubt that Toyota is a company worth studying but I'm not sure it's the greatest company since sliced bread. Still, this in depth look into the Toyota Way has many powerful ideas and practices.
Some of the biggest ideas: grow your people, don't sacrifice the long term for the short term, focus on improving the process, etc are all very strong statements on what a company should do but typically avoids. The process part is one that particularly hits me as I'm from the start up world where process isn't something that gets a lot of thought. Especially from the software world. However when I start to break down some software ideas I do see room for "process" even in an agile start-up (for example how do you write a design document, how do you review a design document, or, more generally, who checklist of questions should you ask and should you answer?). The trick is to make sure the process grows with the organization and that the people who use the process are the ones who make it and improve it.
I'm not sure I can recommend the book as it doesn't read very well but if you are willing to dig a little, there are some worthwhile ideas to pursue. (less)
a solidly written great book on paranoia with a strong helping of tongue in cheek. It's obvious that the author wears tin foil hats and I am grateful...morea solidly written great book on paranoia with a strong helping of tongue in cheek. It's obvious that the author wears tin foil hats and I am grateful that he is at least willing to use a computer to put together this fun and educational read.(less)
Solid, well written book that is the equal of "Making it Stick". The book gives a solid take on what it takes to make change happen: in yourself and o...moreSolid, well written book that is the equal of "Making it Stick". The book gives a solid take on what it takes to make change happen: in yourself and others.
It does get a little repetitive but that may be due to their trying to make the ideas stick. Overall a great read and one that will lead to a few other books being read by me. (less)
This is A book without a clear audience. For the vast majority of this short book the author is taking great pains to prove that the matrix never went...moreThis is A book without a clear audience. For the vast majority of this short book the author is taking great pains to prove that the matrix never went away and that it's not the matrix that fails: it's the way that's it's been put together.
While I'm not a fan of the matrix, I don't hate it either. Mr gottlieb didn't add to my knowledge, understanding, or surviving in a matrix. nor did he give much insight into what makes a matrix work (aside from the obvious). Not impressive. (less)
High level coverage of the careers of Paul Nitze and George Kennan. While this is a decent coverage, it's not very deep: while it does talk about the...moreHigh level coverage of the careers of Paul Nitze and George Kennan. While this is a decent coverage, it's not very deep: while it does talk about the men it really doesn't dive deep into their personas or motivations. Indeed the impact Paul Nitze had on neocon thought was almost not even mentioned.
Was there anything truly new in this book? no. Was it a decent overview of two of big cold war players? Yes. (less)
If you use email for work, this is a wonderful guide to help you avoid sending confusing, infuriating, annoying and just plain bad email. Heck, if you...moreIf you use email for work, this is a wonderful guide to help you avoid sending confusing, infuriating, annoying and just plain bad email. Heck, if you just use email to communicate with anyone, this book is well worth the cost.(less)
A solid book on what took to develop a device (mini computer) that relied on software, hardware, and mechanical engineering. While the technology is o...moreA solid book on what took to develop a device (mini computer) that relied on software, hardware, and mechanical engineering. While the technology is outdated and the management style is dated: the story still captures the thrill of working on something magical. (less)
an encyclopedia of what goes with what. The first part is organized by food, and the second by drink. This is a pretty great prep for dinner party pla...morean encyclopedia of what goes with what. The first part is organized by food, and the second by drink. This is a pretty great prep for dinner party planning(less)
sometimes interesting story of a writer's search for the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. Sadly the writing doesn't grab you and the book feels forced. T...moresometimes interesting story of a writer's search for the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. Sadly the writing doesn't grab you and the book feels forced. This would have made a great article for Rolling Stone or the New Yorker but as a full length book - not so much.
A pretty interesting read that brings across 101 ideas that Mr DeMarco has found in his many years of helping make projects operate better.
While the...moreA pretty interesting read that brings across 101 ideas that Mr DeMarco has found in his many years of helping make projects operate better.
While the story won't win any prizes, the ideas covered are quite topical and well described. If you are looking for an occasionally amusing, easily digestible way to take in some key concepts of software program management, than this is the book for you.
Do note that there are a few derogatory comments directed towards CMM and lean development (in the 90s meaning of lean). For the most part, I think his comments are well made and quite apt. He's not really anti those those things but he does make a point that if they are used incorrectly they will do more harm than good (and that they often hide deeper, nastier problems)(less)
Prepackaged from a ton of other books only with less fun "anecdotes". I also really didn't like how the author constantly referenced herself as "worki...morePrepackaged from a ton of other books only with less fun "anecdotes". I also really didn't like how the author constantly referenced herself as "working girl".
A solid manifesto against the "lean", highly trimmed, insanely efficient,constantly running full tilt (or more) company.
As someone who comes from the...moreA solid manifesto against the "lean", highly trimmed, insanely efficient,constantly running full tilt (or more) company.
As someone who comes from the start up world, I resembled Mr DeMarco's don't look back and "plan for success" mantras that lead to late code, burned out developers and non-agile (risk blind) development. I've also seen how agile is misused - so that "Agile" means 100% engaged, damn the torpedoes and go full steam ahead. I've also seen the damage these styles can do to a software organization.
In Slack, Mr DeMarco talks about how having some time to stop and poke your head up can actually lead to a better organization. An organization that can respond to change, that can retain employees, that can manage risk, and that can deliver product. The book is a manifesto - there isn't a lot of footnotes or empirical studies to back him up. Instead, we are getting a glimpse of his experiences at companies over the years.
I can also say that this rings true to me. Even as a start-up junkie, the past few years I've found myself working smarter so that I have more time to stay on top of the changes in my industry. Or that I have the time to spend with my co-workers; where idle talk can transfer a lot of knowledge. In other words, the message of Slack rings true with my perceptions of companies that "get it" and therefore "get it done".
There may be a few gems of negotiating in here, but you'd be far better off reading Zig Zigler's book. The writing is horrid; repeating the same words...moreThere may be a few gems of negotiating in here, but you'd be far better off reading Zig Zigler's book. The writing is horrid; repeating the same words and thoughts over and over again. What's worse, there is nothing new here! The basic philosophy is the same as any negotiation tactic. Actually, parts are worse. When he started talking about giving minimal information to everyone (he may have just meant don't share information unless it helps you in the negotiation) is a great way to bring distrust to certain situations. One size does not fit all and simplistic books with poorly presented concepts don't help.
I could not even come close to finishing this book. I skimmed the last hundred-ish pages. I can tell you that some of his charts also come right out of 90s era art of persuasion tomes too.
Finally, it's pretty obvious this book is written in a US centric world view. In today's global village, this simply is not going to cut it. (less)
A solid book; light on substance, high on concept. If you find yourself overwhelmed at work, this book does have a few ideas on how to gain back some...moreA solid book; light on substance, high on concept. If you find yourself overwhelmed at work, this book does have a few ideas on how to gain back some of your time. The majority of the ideas boil down to taking in less information, empowering the people around you, and knowing when to, politely, bring someone around to their point.
Most of the information here has been presented elsewhere. What Mr Levine does bring is a concise, crisp summation together into one short, easy to read book. This is something we should all be thankful for as most of us don't have time to read, interview, talk with all of his sources that he brought together.
What struck me most about "Cut to the Chase" is simply how Mr Levine stresses, time and again, that the real reasons behind his book is to give you, the reader, more time to do and spend with those who are most important to you. I find this message reassuring in the high pressure world of business today. (less)
Nudge was not what I expected. I was looking for something about marketing, personal impulse, and more on how the brain can fool you. However I got so...moreNudge was not what I expected. I was looking for something about marketing, personal impulse, and more on how the brain can fool you. However I got something much more compelling: Nudge.
Here our two authors take a general theory; choice architecture, and present it in a very simple, easy to understand package. At times the writing is humorous (other times their jokes fall pretty flat) but the meanings were never lost. Quite simply, with a little bit of retooling, we could have a potentially huge impact on how our society works (within certain realms). This is powerful and heady stuff indeed. And not being a fan of the Chicago School of Economics, I personally was blown away by the simple fact that I agreed with these two professors so very much.
At the 50,000 foot view, a nudge is a simple change that gently pushes the odds of someone doing, or not doing something, in the direction that the choice architect wants. A great example, not from this book, is placing items a store wants to move on the isle end caps. A better example, from this book, is having an opt-in organ donor policy in order to get more people to become donors and thus save more lives.
Sometimes the authors really hit home run after home run for example when they talk about the benefits of cap and trade and on increasing taxes on polluters. Bonus, they are all for complete transparency (yay!). Even better, they give examples of how complete transparency has helped in the past! This all pushes the reader toward seeing their point of view on the subject.
However other parts lost a little of the choice architecture luster. One chapter that I believe is brilliant was a stretch for choice architecture - and that was the chapter on same sex marriage. They argue that the states should get rid of marriage, create simpler, civil unions for all and let religious groups (or scuba groups) marry whomever they want. Now I'm all for this - government should not be in the business of marriage and everyone, gay, straight, etc should be able to have a civil union - a legally binding contract together, if they so chose. With all that goes with it (taxes, the right to visit each other in the hospital, etc). however this was a stretch for the main topics of the book. Still it was great to see a rational argument for giving everyone the same rights. As someone wise once said, everyone should have the right to marry the person they want to annoy (in a loving way) for the rest of their life!
Past that, the book also gave me some food for thought on school programs (so called vouchers) and the medicare drug option program (and how we could make it better). The latter is actually something that I'm starting to look at as my mom is trying to figure out what to do. She's a former pharmacist so if she's having trouble, you know the design is pretty bad! The simple proposals in Nudge would make life a ton easier. Simply import your current drug regime and get a breakdown on which plan best fits your needs. How much easier could you ask for? Total transparency with an easy mechanism to make things work.
Overall this was a great, quick read that left me wanting to read a little more deeply on this topic. This book, by design, only skims the surface. That's both its blessing and its failure. There were too many topics covered, briefly, and not enough meat at times. This left a few of the ideas feeling half formed; which I think is a disservice to the authors. I don't agree with all their ideas but their presentation was fair, well thought out and articulated from the position of wanting to help everyone - especially those who don't know what their best interests are (and we all fit into that category sometimes). An excellent read.(less)
You know that Timothy Ferriss is pulling the wool over your eyes; pretending to hold the secrets to happiness and getting out of a dead end (or too mu...moreYou know that Timothy Ferriss is pulling the wool over your eyes; pretending to hold the secrets to happiness and getting out of a dead end (or too much of a stressful) job. However you don't really care. Why is that? Because what Mr Ferriss did was "pretend to be an expert" in the field (as he describes how to be in the book), gathered together the resources that talk about how to work smarter and happier, and then, much to his credit, told his story of how he got where he is today by doing pretty much exactly what he wrote.
In fact the book is an amazing resource on how to move ahead with life and how to find your own muse. It's pretty heady stuff and what Mr Ferriss has done is an incredible service to us all. Rather than wade through 10 or 20 books and gleem this information from them, he has pulled out the important parts for us already! Saving us a ton of time. What a great thing to do.
Most of all the book is inspiring. I may no want to work 4 hours a week; I happen to really enjoy what I do. However I would love to work a little smarter, travel a little more, and maybe stick it to the man every once and a while. 4 hour work week gives me the ideas on how to make all this, and more, happen. It's a wonderful book that hits one big honking nail on the head: Money is not the meaning of live, happiness is. Do what makes you happy, what brings you (and yours) happiness and don't throw your life away for a few bucks. It simply isn't worth it. (less)
Mr Rosenberg has done it again with "Say Everything". The last book, "[[ASIN:1400082471 Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bu...moreMr Rosenberg has done it again with "Say Everything". The last book, "[[ASIN:1400082471 Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software]]" was one of my favorite books about being in the software trenches. in "Say Everything", Mr Rosenberg takes on a much bigger task - giving us the story of the internet via the very abridged history of blogging according to him.
First the negatives, the book is very much centered on the "according to Mr. Rosenberg" bloggers. So the proto social blogging site Livejournal gets barely 2 pages (when it fact it formed the basis for community/friend blogging - at least in my myopic worldview). There is also some repetition and the first chapter doesn't read anywhere near as well as the rest of the book. It could be that I really didn't care about Justin Hall, but even after the chapter I failed to see why I should care about him.
However right after that it takes of with the story of David Winer. Now we had a real personality and possibly the start of "blogging" via email lists. Things would heat up from there as we are told (or retold) the story of Blogger. The story of Heather Armstrong was quite well done and it made for a compelling chapter on one of the pitfalls of laying all your cards on the table. Heck, one of my favorite bloggers/media personalities out there, Anna Marie Cox, even got a few shout outs (though maybe not in the most flattering light)
However the best part comes a little past midway. It's here that Mr Rosenberg talks about blogging and journalism. This is quite fascinating stuff; the pains, the blinders, the confusion and the denial are all quite palpable. It's clean that there isn't a lot of love from Mr Rosenberg for the old media and I'm sure the feelings are mutual. This chapter, more than any other, was worth the price of admission.
If you are looking for a fun, occasionally inspiring book to read then "Say Everything" could be for you. Just remember that you are only seeing a pinpoint on the tip of the iceberg when you read it. (less)
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