Peopleware

This book was recommended to me many years ago by a friend, but for some reason it took me a while to get around to reading it. I read it immediately after reading “Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea” and a lot of the ideas seemed the same. Tom and Timothy had it right almost 30 years ago. The key to making people productive is treating people, like…well, people instead of extensions of industrial machines.

Granted some of their commentary is a little dated. For example, they talk a lot about offices and office space. In this era of Covid and remote working, it seems a little less relevant, although the principles are still good there. Let teams choose what works best for them.

Many of their other ideas though seem even more relevant today. Ideas like limiting distractions, bureaucracy, and phony deadlines and focusing on improving teamwork (or as they put it avoiding teamicide). I could go into more details, but you should probably just read the book. It’s a pretty quick read and well worth your time.