I just finished reading REwork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hannson. Quick background: the writers of this book founded 37signals, a company that makes an amazing project management tool called Basecamp. 37signals not only makes great products, they also have an amazing work culture that comes through in their blog and other social media outputs. 

I've already read Getting Real, their previous book (available online for free) which I liked. For me, there's something more satisfying about holding and reading a book than reading on a screen. Either way, here's my top 5 lessons learned from REwork:

5. Ignore the details early on

This is always my problem - I think about all the cool features and tweaks before thinking about the core of whatever I'm working on (usually a website).

4. Emulate chefs

I love that they mentioned Kitchen Nightmares - a great show about running a restaurant with lessons that apply to almost any business

3. How to say you're sorry

Apologizing is something that almost all companies get wrong - "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused" is the worst way to make your customers feel better

2. Send people home at five

Agreed!

1. Start making something

This chapter inspired me to, well, start making something. Over the past few months I've had a ton of ideas for a project and after reading this chapter I finally started it. Since I'm in the early stages, I'm trying to really focus on the core concepts and leave the details for later. It's tough, but it's happening... and that's better than just planning.