Rework (16 page)

Sound like you

What is it with businesspeople trying to sound big? The stiff language, the formal announcements, the artificial friendliness, the legalese, etc. You read this stuff and it sounds like a robot wrote it. These companies talk
at
you, not
to
you.

This mask of professionalism is a joke. We all know this. Yet small companies still try to emulate it. They think sounding big makes them appear bigger and more “professional.” But it really just makes them sound ridiculous. Plus, you sacrifice one of a small company’s greatest assets: the ability to communicate simply and directly, without running every last word through a legal-and PR-department sieve.

There’s nothing wrong with sounding your own size. Being honest about who you are is smart business, too. Language is often your first impression—why start it off with a lie? Don’t be afraid to be you.

That applies to the language you use everywhere—in e-mail, packaging, interviews, blog posts, presentations, etc. Talk to customers the way you would to friends. Explain things as if you were sitting next to them. Avoid jargon or any sort of corporate-speak. Stay away from buzzwords when normal words will do just fine. Don’t talk about “monetization” or being “transparent;” talk about making money and being honest. Don’t use seven words when four will do.

And don’t force your employees to end e-mails with legalese like “This e-mail message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information.” That’s like ending all your company e-mails with a signature that says, “We don’t trust you and we’re ready to prove it in court.” Good luck making friends that way.

Write to be read, don’t write just to write. Whenever you write something, read it out loud. Does it sound the way it would if you were actually talking to someone? If not, how can you make it more conversational?

Who said writing needs to be formal? Who said you have to strip away your personality when putting words on paper? Forget rules. Communicate!

And when you’re writing, don’t think about all the people who may read your words. Think of one person. Then write for that one person. Writing for a mob leads to generalities and awkwardness. When you write to a specific target, you’re a lot more likely to hit the mark.

Four-letter words

There are four-letter words you should never use in business. They’re not
fuck
or
shit
. They’re
need, must, can’t, easy, just, only
, and
fast
. These words get in the way of healthy communication. They are red flags that introduce animosity, torpedo good discussions, and cause projects to be late.

When you use these four-letter words, you create a black-and-white situation. But the truth is rarely black and white. So people get upset and problems ensue. Tension and conflict are injected unnecessarily.

Here’s what’s wrong with some of them:

Need
. Very few things actually need to get done. Instead of saying “need,” you’re better off saying “maybe” or “What do you think about this?” or “How does this sound?” or “Do you think we could get away with that?”

Can’t
. When you say “can’t,” you probably can. Sometimes there are even opposing can’ts: “We can’t launch it like that, because it’s not quite right” versus “We can’t spend any more time on this because we have to launch.” Both of those statements can’t be true. Or wait a minute, can they?

Easy
.
Easy
is a word that’s used to describe other people’s jobs. “That should be easy for you to do, right?” But notice how rarely people describe their own tasks as easy. For you, it’s “Let me look into it”—but for others, it’s “Get it done.”

These four-letter words often pop up during debates (and also watch out for their cousins:
everyone, no one, always
, and
never)
. Once uttered, they make it tough to find a solution. They box you into a corner by pitting two absolutes against each other. That’s when head-butting occurs. You squeeze out any middle ground.

And these words are especially dangerous when you string them together: “We need to add this feature now. We can’t launch without this feature. Everyone wants it. It’s only one little thing so it will be easy. You should be able to get it in there fast!” Only thirty-six words, but a hundred assumptions. That’s a recipe for disaster.

ASAP is poison

Stop saying ASAP. We get it. It’s implied. Everyone wants things done as soon as they can be done.

When you turn into one of these people who adds ASAP to the end of every request, you’re saying everything is high priority. And when everything is high priority, nothing is. (Funny how everything is a top priority until you actually have to prioritize things.)

ASAP is inflationary. It devalues any request that doesn’t say ASAP. Before you know it, the only way to get anything done is by putting the ASAP sticker on it.

Most things just don’t warrant that kind of hysteria. If a task doesn’t get done this very instant, nobody is going to die. Nobody’s going to lose their job. It won’t cost the company a ton of money. What it will do is create artificial stress, which leads to burnout and worse.

So reserve your use of emergency language for true emergencies. The kind where there are direct, measurable consequences to inaction. For everything else, chill out.

CHAPTER
CONCLUSION

Inspiration is perishable

We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever.

What doesn’t last forever is inspiration. Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: It has an expiration date.

If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can’t just say you’ll do it later. Later, you won’t be pumped up about it anymore.

If you’re inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project. When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in twenty-four hours. Inspiration is a time machine in that way.

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.

Thank you for reading our book

We hope it inspires you to rework how you do things. If so, drop a line to
[email protected]
and let us know how it’s going. We look forward to hearing from you.

CHAPTER
RESOURCES

About 37signals

37signals
www.37signals.com
About 37signals and our products.

Rework site
www.37signals.com/rework
The official book site.

Signal vs. Noise
www.37signals.com/svn
Our company blog about business, design, culture, and more.

37signals video
www.37signals.com/speaks
Presentations and rants by 37signals.

Subscribe to 37signals newsletters
www.37signals.com/subscribe
Newsletter about new products, discounts, and more (sent out roughly twice a month).

Stuff we like
www.37signals.com/stuffwelike
A list of books, sites, and other things that we enjoy.

E-mail
[email protected]

37signals products

Basecamp
www.basecamphq.com
Manage projects and collaborate with your team and clients.

Highrise
www.highrisehq.com
Track your contacts, leads, and deals. Always be prepared.

Backpack
www.backpackit.com
Organize and share information across your business.

Campfire
www.campfirenow.com
Real-time chat and file and code sharing for remote teams.

Ta-da List
www.tadalist.com
Ta-da List makes it easy to create and share your to-do’s.

Writeboard
www.writeboard.com
Writeboard is a collaborative writing tool.

Getting Real
gettingreal.37signals.com
This book by 37signals will help you discover the smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful Web-based application.

Ruby on Rails
www.rubyonrails.org
An open-source Web framework created by 37signals.

Acknowledgments

Very special thanks go to Matthew Linderman. Matt was 37signals’ first employee in 1999—and he’s still with the company today. This book wouldn’t have come together without Matt. In addition to writing original content, he helped merge the distinctly different writing styles of the coauthors into a focused, cohesive book. He made it look easy, but it wasn’t easy work. Thank you, Matt.

We also want to thank our families, our customers, and everyone at 37signals. And here’s a list of some of the people we know, and don’t know, who have inspired us in one way or another:

Copyright © 2010 by 37signals, LLC.

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Business of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

CROWN
and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This book is available for special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions or premiums. Special editions, including personalized covers, excerpts of existing books, and corporate imprints, can be created in large quantities for special needs. For more information, write to Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fried, Jason.
Rework / Jason Fried and David Hansson.—1st ed.
p.  cm.
1. Industrial management.   2. 37signals—company.
I. Hansson, David Heinemeier.   II. Title.
HD31.F755 2010
658.22—dc22  2009036114

eISBN: 978-0-307-46376-0

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