Reduce friction, forget force

I recently picked up a copy of Rework by Basecamp founders Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. I loved it. It felt like they jumped into my head and wrote the book from what they saw.

A problem in tech, and in most companies, is too much bullshit. The layers and layers of bullshit start piling up once you start hiring more and more people. Once your company needs outside investors to survive. Once you need a bunch of rules about the refrigerator and coffee pots.

The back cover of the book hits on some of my favorite axioms: ASAP is poison. Meetings are toxic. Planning is guessing. Fire the workaholics.

After reading the book I watched a few more talks by David Heinemeier Hansson. The drumbeat is the same each time: Build a small, profitable business. Work remotely. Send people home at 5:00.

My favorite sound byte from all of DHH's talks was: Don't add force, reduce friction.

This has been one of my common-sense mantras for years. But in my experience, people just want to add more force. More complications. More layers of bullshit.

Peel off the layers. Examine your processes. Why do it at all? Automate. Script. Shortcut at every chance. Someone out there is doing it easier, you can to.

I love the idea of starting my own little business that has a handful of employees and keeps us well fed. Not hitting the lotto of startups for $100 million in equity. Not going to work at a faceless corporation building some dead guy's dream.

Building my own little dream and building it the best I can sounds like the best way to fix this problem.

Posted by Brian Kennedy. DBC Culture Blog #3