It doesn't have to be crazy at work

It doesn’t have to be crazy at work is the newest addition to a fleet of books on company building, culture, and work philosophy by the founders and chief executives at Basecamp - Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

I didn’t know too much about Basecamp, David, or Jason until recently - when my company adopted ideas from Shape up - a book on how the product teams at Basecamp work, by Ryan Singer. When I read Shape up, I was hooked immediately. So many of the ideas resonated with me that I’ve been following Basecamp every since. It was, therefore, a natural next step to read It doesn’t have to be crazy at work.

In the book, they have a modern, yet critical way of looking at how work should be done, and more importantly, how it shouldn’t be done.The three key takeaways I took from the book are:

Async & calm communication over always-on, always active.
There’s nothing great about “the hustle”.
Think about your company as a product.

Async & calm communication over always-on, always active

It has become common practice in tech companies to rely on chat software like Slack for all internal communication. While I love Slack, it can create terrible habits within a company. Being online in a chatroom all day absolutely kills productivity. You’re constantly being interrupted by notifications, and people expecting you to get to them right away. Not only does it kill productivity, it can also be incredibly stressful to feel like you have to be available at all times. In the book, they compare chat rooms in the workplace to being in an all day meeting with no agenda. They argue that it’s far better to share ideas that need solid feedback or collaboration in async written up format, where people can take their time to read it through and read it again (think email, or platforms like Basecamp or Notion). A quote from the book: “Creativity, progress, and impact do not yield to brute force”.

Meetings can also be a terrible inconvenience that kills focused work time, especially large ones. In the book they recommend that meetings should be a least resort and that they should be kept very small if they can’t be avoided. Sharing recurring status information in a calm written format is far better for everyone, as people can read it (and read it again) when they have time - and come up with more thoughtful and well thought through feedback and questions. In the book they argue that the most important thing that a company should protect is their employees time. A good quote on the distractions of the modern work place from the book: “The answer isn’t more hours, it’s less bullshit. Less waste, not more production. And far fewer distractions, less always-on anxiety, and avoiding stress”.

There’s nothing great about “the hustle”

I’m a huge fan of working hard and pushing for ambitious goals to move the needle. There is, however, a terrible culture brewing that glorifies “the hustle”. People promoting the virtues of cutting sleep, time with loved ones, and healthy living for working crazy hours. This is terrible, and in the long run a terrible unsustainable way to live. I like to work hard, but I don’t want to shorten my lifespan while doing it. It is also just non-sense, as this “hustle” is usually preached by “pretenders”. A quote from the book: “But you rarely hear about people working three low-end jobs out of necessity wearing that grind with pride. It’s only the pretenders, those who aren’t exactly struggling for existence, who feel the need to brag about their immense sacrifice”. And “The people who brag about trading sleep for endless slogs and midnight marathons are usually the ones who can’t point to actual accomplishments. Telling tales of endless slogs is a diversionary tactic. It’s pathetic”. And finally, “You can’t outwork the whole world. there’s always going to be someone somewhere willing to work as hard a you. Someone just as hungry. Or hungrier”.

Think about your company as a product

In the book they argue that you should think about your company as your most important product. Just like you iterate on the actual product that your company produces, you should always be iterating on your company culture, internal communication, and company values. Progress is achieved through iteration. To make a product better you have to keep tweaking, revising, and iterating. The same goes for your company.

They also argue that it takes a “stable crew” to build a good company in the long run. Focusing on getting good people into the company and building a great environment to nurture those people is the most important thing. A quote: “Stop thinking of talent as something to be plundered and start thinking of it as something to be grown and nurtured, the seeds for which are readily available for companies willing to do the work. That work is mostly about the environment, anyway. Even if you had the most precious orchid planted in your garden, it would quickly die without the proper care. And if you do pay attention to having the best environment, you can grow your own beautiful orchids with patience”.

Wrap-up

All in all, this book is a great quick read for anyone interested in company building, culture, and creating a productive and calm work environment. I’ll end this post with one of my favorite quotes from the book: “Getting things off the ground is so hard that it’s natural to expect it’ll just get easier from here. Except it doesn’t. Things get harder as you go, not easier. The easiest day is day one. That’s the dirty little secret of business”.