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First Sentence
I've been late to work for the last three days, and I'm starting to get "the eye" from my boss. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I've been late to work for the last three days, and I'm starting to get "the eye" from my boss. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I pre-ordered this book after having read about it on Tim Ferris's "Four Hour Work Week" blog, and it hasn't disappointed. The book reflects the experience of Best Buy in the US, implementing a "Results Orientated Work Environment" where employees were accountable not only for their results, but for deciding their own time allocations. Hence if you are out of the office, or want to achieve all your objectives around the rest of your life commitments - go right ahead; no permission needed.
The lightbulb that switched on with me was the quantity of "sludge" that circulates around most companies i've worked at; people equating "time in the office, arrive early, stay late" with "value provided to the company", and the sort of derogatory remarks made if people arrive mid morning, or leave early. The way to handle this is described well in the book, and that's what i'll be applying from now on.
Found it interesting that when people were measured only on their results, the number of involuntary dismissals went up - which should be obvious, but is often confused with "time in the office"; people who turn in the hours but add no value to the company get exposed quickly by a "ROWE" working environment. That said, people who can do a good job and deliver results around their personal commitments outside of work appear to enjoy the freedom it gives.
I'm keen to implement a lot of the proposals - even if it's under the radar - but the one thing that would help would be some examples of the sorts of objectives people get assigned in this sort of arrangement.
That apart, i'd thoroughly recommend the book. The 200 pages took me a day, and there will be changes as a result. I hope the same thing happens to all it's readers.
The lightbulb that switched on with me was the quantity of "sludge" that circulates around most companies i've worked at; people equating "time in the office, arrive early, stay late" with "value provided to the company", and the sort of derogatory remarks made if people arrive mid morning, or leave early. The way to handle this is described well in the book, and that's what i'll be applying from now on.
Found it interesting that when people were measured only on their results, the number of involuntary dismissals went up - which should be obvious, but is often confused with "time in the office"; people who turn in the hours but add no value to the company get exposed quickly by a "ROWE" working environment. That said, people who can do a good job and deliver results around their personal commitments outside of work appear to enjoy the freedom it gives.
I'm keen to implement a lot of the proposals - even if it's under the radar - but the one thing that would help would be some examples of the sorts of objectives people get assigned in this sort of arrangement.
That apart, i'd thoroughly recommend the book. The 200 pages took me a day, and there will be changes as a result. I hope the same thing happens to all it's readers.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Buy this book, read it, and do what it tells you.
Well, it's not the best written book I've ever read, but it is readable, and the underlying proposition is , for me, undeniable, so I'm in favour.
And tell everyone you know to do the same.
Essentially, the book tells about the way Best Buy(what a crap name for a big company!) works, how it sees its relationship with its employees. In Best Buy, if your job is for example designing lampshades,no-one cares in the slightest where or when you do it. Not your boss, not HR, not your fellow lampshade designers - no-one. If you want to do your job at 4 in the morning from a shed at the foot of your garden, and take your kids to the zoo between 9 and 3 in the daytime, that's fine, just do it. Don't report in, don't ask if its OK, just be responsible, make sure you turn in the requisite 'lampshade design results' and get on with your life where and when you like.
They call it treating adults like adults - it's very similar to the way SEMCO works, and a step further along the road from the flat management systems of WL Gore (Gore-tex). And it's (surprisingly) not a million miles away from proposals here in the UK about how public institutions(Health Trusts etc) should be run in the coming years.
It bears repeating: buy this book, read it, and do what it tells you.
Well, it's not the best written book I've ever read, but it is readable, and the underlying proposition is , for me, undeniable, so I'm in favour.
And tell everyone you know to do the same.
Essentially, the book tells about the way Best Buy(what a crap name for a big company!) works, how it sees its relationship with its employees. In Best Buy, if your job is for example designing lampshades,no-one cares in the slightest where or when you do it. Not your boss, not HR, not your fellow lampshade designers - no-one. If you want to do your job at 4 in the morning from a shed at the foot of your garden, and take your kids to the zoo between 9 and 3 in the daytime, that's fine, just do it. Don't report in, don't ask if its OK, just be responsible, make sure you turn in the requisite 'lampshade design results' and get on with your life where and when you like.
They call it treating adults like adults - it's very similar to the way SEMCO works, and a step further along the road from the flat management systems of WL Gore (Gore-tex). And it's (surprisingly) not a million miles away from proposals here in the UK about how public institutions(Health Trusts etc) should be run in the coming years.
It bears repeating: buy this book, read it, and do what it tells you.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
57 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Cool Productivity Concept, Quick Read
15 Jun 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Solid concept, well-written in an entertaining style, but the content is pretty straight-forward and could have easily been 25 pages versus 180 pages. For those from the traditional workplace, you'll find fear and reassurance alternately as you make your way through the stories of the ROWE environment. Ultimately, the book provides emotional reassurance to people ready to take up the mantle of this new style.
The book is simply 'Work wherever, whenever and however you want as long as you produce the desired results. The hardest part being Sludge, the desire to judge co-workers by how long or how much they are in the office working.
The book is simply 'Work wherever, whenever and however you want as long as you produce the desired results. The hardest part being Sludge, the desire to judge co-workers by how long or how much they are in the office working.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
I can not recommend this book highly enough
3 Jun 2008
Format:Hardcover
I can not recommend this book highly enough.
Cali and Jody have a done a wonderful job of sharing with us what the "work environment" should and can be.
I had the good fortune of starting my own consulting/training at 25. My three partners and I grew the company to 180 employees. Like in Cali and Jody's Results Only Work Environment (ROWE), a key was TRUST. My partners and I trusted each other, we trusted our employees, and our employees trusted us and each other. Everyone worked hard, had fun, and, for the most part, thrived professionally and personally. We were a family.
At the beginning of the book I thought a ROWE sounded wonderful, could work in small entrepreneurial organizations, but I was skeptical a ROWE could develop in larger organizations. As I progressed though the book my skepticism diminished.
Cali and Jody clearly state their case;
* the importance of RESULTS over time worked
* the power of INDIVIDUAL CONTROL
* the impact of negative comments, aka SLUDGE
* the 13 GUIDEPOSTS that make a ROWE
* stories and insights from Best Buy employees working in a ROWE.
You owe it to yourself, your coworkers, company and family to read this book. I suggest you read it with a "why not" attitude. You may want to read it quickly, think about it for a week or two assimilating the benefits of a ROWE and then read it again when the concept seems less radical.
As Jody and Cali point out, a ROWE can't be mandated from the top down, it comes from the bottom up and grows organically throughout an organization. You could be the Jody and Cali in your organization.
Cali and Jody have a done a wonderful job of sharing with us what the "work environment" should and can be.
I had the good fortune of starting my own consulting/training at 25. My three partners and I grew the company to 180 employees. Like in Cali and Jody's Results Only Work Environment (ROWE), a key was TRUST. My partners and I trusted each other, we trusted our employees, and our employees trusted us and each other. Everyone worked hard, had fun, and, for the most part, thrived professionally and personally. We were a family.
At the beginning of the book I thought a ROWE sounded wonderful, could work in small entrepreneurial organizations, but I was skeptical a ROWE could develop in larger organizations. As I progressed though the book my skepticism diminished.
Cali and Jody clearly state their case;
* the importance of RESULTS over time worked
* the power of INDIVIDUAL CONTROL
* the impact of negative comments, aka SLUDGE
* the 13 GUIDEPOSTS that make a ROWE
* stories and insights from Best Buy employees working in a ROWE.
You owe it to yourself, your coworkers, company and family to read this book. I suggest you read it with a "why not" attitude. You may want to read it quickly, think about it for a week or two assimilating the benefits of a ROWE and then read it again when the concept seems less radical.
As Jody and Cali point out, a ROWE can't be mandated from the top down, it comes from the bottom up and grows organically throughout an organization. You could be the Jody and Cali in your organization.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
ROWE is the ultimate solution to a broken workplace!
9 Jun 2008
Format:Hardcover
Best Buy's journey to a Results-Only Work Environment is a provactive real-life story that shatters our assumptions about how work gets done (assumptions that might have made sense for an industrial-age workplace, BUT not today's knowledge-based economy). Ressler and Thompson make the case with humor by showing us how ingrained and outdated some of our work notions are and they provide powerful stories from Best Buy employees about how their lives, both professionally and personally, improved dramatically under ROWE. But that's not where the story ends. Not only did employees' lives improve, but so did Best Buy's bottom line (through increased productivity and retention).
At the end of the day ROWE is not a corporate program or package, but an effort to challenge our notions through "Eradicating Sludge" (as Ressler and Thompson fondly call it). Many companies have taken small-steps to address the challenges of the 21st century workplace (experiments with telecommuting, flexible work hours, etc.). This is the story of a quantum leap to where the workplace needs to be. A place where all businesses will ultimately be when our old notions of work are shattered. Best Buy shows that companies that lead this transition have lots to gain!
At the end of the day ROWE is not a corporate program or package, but an effort to challenge our notions through "Eradicating Sludge" (as Ressler and Thompson fondly call it). Many companies have taken small-steps to address the challenges of the 21st century workplace (experiments with telecommuting, flexible work hours, etc.). This is the story of a quantum leap to where the workplace needs to be. A place where all businesses will ultimately be when our old notions of work are shattered. Best Buy shows that companies that lead this transition have lots to gain!
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