A friend recommended me to read Rework book from David Heinemeier Hanson partner of 37signals.com and creator of the Ruby on Rail programming framework. Last week I read 'rework' book and It 's amazing. I think that it is a great business and personal book. Next my notes about it.

Notes

Not long term plans. Decide what you are going to do this week, not this year. And focus to next important thing and do that.

Be small. And if you need grow, grow slowly.

Working more does not means you get more done. It just mean you work more.

Do things that makes your customer life better.

Make something you need, and sold it.

Start making something. Until you actually start making something, your brilliant idea is just that, an idea.

The perfect time never arrives. If you are looking the perfect time to do something, you never do that.

You need less that you think.

Less mass. Less long-term contracts, staff, permanent desicions, meetings, thick process, inventory, hardware, software, etc. If you keep your mass low you can quickly change everything.

Embrance constraints. Limit resources force you to make do with what you have got. That's force you to be creative.

Start at the epicenter. Do things to have to do first, no things you want to do or things you could do. Ask yourself this question: if I took this away, would what I'm selling still exist?

Ignore the details early on.

Decisions are progress. Don't postpone decisions. Don't wait for perfect solutions.

Launch now. Once your product does what it need to do, get it out there.

Important questions to ask yourself to ensure you are doing work that matters:

  • Why are you doing this?
  • What problem are you solving?
  • Is this actually useful?
  • Are you adding value?
  • Will this change behavior?
  • Is there an easier way?
  • What could you be doing instead?
  • Is it really worth it?

Interruption is the enemy of productivity.

Meetings are toxic. Meeting rules:

  • Set a timer.
  • Invite a few people as possible.
  • Always have a clear agenda.
  • Begin with a specific problem.
  • Meet at the site of the problem instead of a conference room.
  • End with a solution and make someone responsible for implementing it.

Good enough is fine. Problem can usually be solved with simple solutions. Usually you can turn good enough into great later.

Go to sleep. If you don't sleep, you destroy your creativity, morale and attitude.

Break the big things into smallers things. The smaller things are easy to estimate. Structure big projects into one-week project.

Make tiny decisions. Big decisions are hard to make and hard to change. When you make small decisions you can't make it mistakes.

Don't copy. When you copy you not understand why somethings work. When you copy you never lead; you always follow.

Focus on you instead of they. When you spend time working about someone else, you don't spend time improving yourself.

Say no by default. "if I'd listened the customers, I'd have given them a faster horse"- Henry ford.

Have as many great ideas as you can, write them and park them for a few days. Then evaluate their actual priority with a calm mind.

Build and audience. When you build an audience you don’t have to buy people’s attention. To build an audience, speak, write, blog tweet, make videos. Share information that’s valuable.

Share everything you know.

Everything is marketing. Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing: answer a call, send email, write software, etc.

Do it your self first. Never hire anyone to do a job until you have tried to do it yourself first. That way, you’ll understand the nature of the work.

Decisions are temporary. If circumstances change, your decisions can change.

You don’t need more hours; you need better hours.

Sound like you. Avoid jargon and buzzwords. Use as less words as you can when write. Write to be read.

Inspiration is perishable. Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. Inspiration is a now thing.