Scan barcode
jmrprice's review
4.0
Conversational tone and excellent observations - capitalism (life?) should not be just about money. Treating folks well - that should mean just as much as maximizing profit, if not more.
Received as a goodreads giveaway.
Received as a goodreads giveaway.
pondaholic's review
3.0
I found the book mildly amusing for the first few chapters and then Lyons descended into didactic ranting. Read the book with a grain of salt as Lyons has a very particular opinion on the subject of the work place (a very skewed bias towards Ford, apparently, which was random) and a harsh outlook towards too much tech in your daily life/tech makes life worse, not better.
I enjoyed it for his research into workplace and psychology, but when you just try to pound in a single point and don't bother to cover opposing arguments the book just plateaus and my interest drops for a while because it's just more information on how Companies A, B, and C are just complete crap places to work and how Companies X, Y, and Z don't do what Companies A, B, and C do and are utopias.
If you already agree with his point of view, you'll just be fed supporting facts. If you didn't completely agree with him to begin with, you'll still feel that way after reading--not a big deal but his points could be presented better, fairer? I'm not sure what adverb I'm looking for yet...
I enjoyed it for his research into workplace and psychology, but when you just try to pound in a single point and don't bother to cover opposing arguments the book just plateaus and my interest drops for a while because it's just more information on how Companies A, B, and C are just complete crap places to work and how Companies X, Y, and Z don't do what Companies A, B, and C do and are utopias.
If you already agree with his point of view, you'll just be fed supporting facts. If you didn't completely agree with him to begin with, you'll still feel that way after reading--not a big deal but his points could be presented better, fairer? I'm not sure what adverb I'm looking for yet...
groovemonkey's review
4.0
Interesting statistics about the gig economy and how awful many workplaces have become in the last 30 years. Decent but shallow treatment of positive examples/alternatives. Could have been half as long, but still good.
snuzzbobble's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Well-researched and insightful, this book paints a dark portrait of the current working landscape. The critique of shareholder capitalism was well-grounded, and the examples of companies whose practices offer a potential solution were both informative and inspiring.
sushirito89's review
5.0
Brutally honest take/research on the modern day (aka tech) industry.
Couldn't stop listening to it. "Disrupted" made me laugh a ton, "Lab Rats" made me fear for my future at work.
Couldn't stop listening to it. "Disrupted" made me laugh a ton, "Lab Rats" made me fear for my future at work.
wellsee's review
4.0
At times it becomes a bit too cynical and mocking, which makes it hard to take him seriously
annoeing's review
4.0
Unfortunately I only read 7/8th of this book because my dad took it while I was reading it because he was like wow this looks interesting I should be reading about business and money and stuff so he took my copy and didn't give it back. But he is really enjoying it though like he is refusing to give it back now and also he doesn't even like english stuff and this book is in english so yeah that's how interesting it is.
This book is also depressingly insightful on modern work culture and I feel bad for everyone who has to work in fear that they can be jobless the day after. But I liked the optimistic part where it tells you about the stuff that companies with happyish mental stable employees, and what they did to achieve that. And overall this book doesn't even just apply to like running a workforce but also relationships in general. People clearly thrive when they have security and money and like apparently that's not a thing at Netflix and startups anymore. Which is funny cause they're always like bUt You geT TO dO WHat YOu ENjoy yeah but so passion pay the bills? Pretty sure those half alive Amazon workers have zero soul, let alone PASSION, left in them based on the authors description of their working condition in Amazon warehouses. So yeah this is what the book is basically about and it makes fun of other silly things like those quirky team building workshops.
This book is also depressingly insightful on modern work culture and I feel bad for everyone who has to work in fear that they can be jobless the day after. But I liked the optimistic part where it tells you about the stuff that companies with happyish mental stable employees, and what they did to achieve that. And overall this book doesn't even just apply to like running a workforce but also relationships in general. People clearly thrive when they have security and money and like apparently that's not a thing at Netflix and startups anymore. Which is funny cause they're always like bUt You geT TO dO WHat YOu ENjoy yeah but so passion pay the bills? Pretty sure those half alive Amazon workers have zero soul, let alone PASSION, left in them based on the authors description of their working condition in Amazon warehouses. So yeah this is what the book is basically about and it makes fun of other silly things like those quirky team building workshops.
mjfmjfmjf's review
4.0
Short, fast, readable. It was interesting to read something contrarian, to read something outside my bubble. This starts out talking work fads like Lego Serious Play. But then it basically sets out to attack Agile and Scrum and Lean Startup. And it makes very strong statements and very good points.
At one point he goes over the Agile Manifesto and is talking to Andrew Hunt ("We've lost our way") who says about SAFe aka Scaled Agile Framework - "the worst flavor", "It's a disaster", "Shitty Agile for Enterprise".
Like I said, strong statements.
But through much of the book he is beating up on the message of Milton Friedman's the only value that matters is shareholder value.
I've been lucky in my career in a lot of ways. Or I suppose I've been selective. I haven't worked death marches. I've worked at companies that worked long hours and long weeks just after they stopped doing that. I remember working at a company and trying to understand that success was supposed to have meant - build a business fast, flip it, get rich, get out, let the business die - and that the company I was at at the time was a failure since it took 13 years to go public - from the inside it looked like a success at the time - profitable, good jobs, good people, a product that customer's liked.
I picked up the idea of Management by Wandering Around from my dad - and it has been part of my work philosophy for a long time even as a non manager. The idea that you should know the people you work with and what's going on with them being able to help and be helped but without interfering is a truth I have baked in to my point of view. It was nice to have this book not knock that message down.
I also picked up the idea of NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming from my dad. Ah well. I found Bokononism on my own.
Agile doesn't have to be bad, but it also doesn't have to be good.
The verdict on capitalism is perhaps a bit less clear.
At one point he goes over the Agile Manifesto and is talking to Andrew Hunt ("We've lost our way") who says about SAFe aka Scaled Agile Framework - "the worst flavor", "It's a disaster", "Shitty Agile for Enterprise".
Like I said, strong statements.
But through much of the book he is beating up on the message of Milton Friedman's the only value that matters is shareholder value.
I've been lucky in my career in a lot of ways. Or I suppose I've been selective. I haven't worked death marches. I've worked at companies that worked long hours and long weeks just after they stopped doing that. I remember working at a company and trying to understand that success was supposed to have meant - build a business fast, flip it, get rich, get out, let the business die - and that the company I was at at the time was a failure since it took 13 years to go public - from the inside it looked like a success at the time - profitable, good jobs, good people, a product that customer's liked.
I picked up the idea of Management by Wandering Around from my dad - and it has been part of my work philosophy for a long time even as a non manager. The idea that you should know the people you work with and what's going on with them being able to help and be helped but without interfering is a truth I have baked in to my point of view. It was nice to have this book not knock that message down.
I also picked up the idea of NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming from my dad. Ah well. I found Bokononism on my own.
Agile doesn't have to be bad, but it also doesn't have to be good.
The verdict on capitalism is perhaps a bit less clear.