Rework

    This book is marketed as a different approach to business. Rather than discuss the things you might learn in a business school: Write a business plan, research competitors, find funding, etc., this book explores a different approach. Their approach is supposed to work faster and be better in the end.

    Interestingly, a lot of the thoughts this book contains were also taught in my entrepreneurship class in business school. I don't think it's that much of a breakthrough and does contain a lot of standard ideas if you're familiar with entrepreneurship.

Some of the main points I agree with:

1) Just start acting - Start making something. Don't get caught in analysis paralysis or the market may change before you've even entered.

2) Plan Z is to get outside investment - Try to bootstrap your company and make it work without borrowing money.

3) Cut out what you don't really need - Do you need a full time accountant? More employees? Better gear? Maybe not, you can probably get by with what you have.

4) Gear doesn't matter - You don't need the latest computer, iPad, or device to get your company going.

5) Out-teach the competition - Teaching adds a lot of value to your product. It also makes you more trustworthy. It even generates revenue. Great idea.

6) Everything is marketing - Every phone call you make, every person you talk to, everything you do.

The Passionate Programmer - Chad Fowler

The main things I got out of the book were that I need to do much better with my time management (maybe I'll try those 2x4 hour burns and kick my internet surfing habit) and I should need to build on my reputation through daily hits and contributing code. That and I really need to find a mentor.

My notes and thoughts:

Choosing your market:
    Supply and Demand: Find a skill that you can use that doesn't compete with India on price.
    Coding don't cut it anymore: Need to know the business as well as the technology to add value.
    Be the Worst: be the worst on the team so that other people are pulling you up.
    Invest in your intelligence: Capitalize on the opportunities you have to learn other technologies.
    Don't listen to your parents: Don't stay in a comfortable situation, challenge yourself.
    Be a generalist: Don't be a PHP guy, be a software engineer.
    Be a specialist: (what about generalist again?) Really know the internals of your language.
    Don't put all your eggs in the same basket: like being a generalist, don't be a PHP only guy, don't follow one vendor.
    Love it or leave it: Love it or find something else.

Investing in Your Product:
    Learn how businesses really work: enough said.
    Find a mentor: someone who can pull you up.
    Be a mentor: you also learn by teaching.
    Practice, Practice, Practice: Don't worry about making mistakes, but this should be focused practice.
    The Way That You Do It: (meh) implement a process.
    On the Shoulders of Giants: Look at previous or open source code for insights. Really read it.
    Automate Yourself into a Job: It makes you a lot more productive.

Executing:
    Mind Reader: Listen to what people say, they'll give you hints at what they want before they realize it.
    Daily Hit: (yes) Do something good every day.
    Remember who you work for: keep the business goal in mind, you're not programming for yourself.
    Be Where You're At: (meh) Do the best you can right now, don't make enemies by being ambitious.
    How Good a Job Can I Do Today?: (meh) Have fun, try to make menial tasks interesting.
    How Much Are You Worth?: (yes!) probably 2x your salary. Are you doing things to make yourself worth it?
    A Pebble in a Bucket of Water: You can be replaced, life will go on.
    Learn to Love Maintenance: Chances are you'll do a lot, so why not enjoy it. You might even stand out.
    Eight-Hour Burn: (yes!) working more hours isn't necessarily better. Try to focus for 4 hours (2 times)
    Learn How to Fail: you can learn more from failure than from success.
    Say "No": Give realistic answers, don't say "yes" just to keep people happy.
    Don't Panic: Heroes stay cool and don't panic. Be a hero. (Noskill in Doom).
    Say it, do it, show it: Make a checklist and check things off. Show it to your boss. Status reports!

Marketing... Not Just for Suits:
    Adventure Tour Guide: Customers might fear you because they rely so heavily on you. Make the process painless.
    Me Rite Reel Nice: Learn how to spell... and write!
    Being Present: (yes!) face to face communication is nice.
    Suit Speak: Learn how to talk about your projects in terms of the business/customer.
    Change the World: Let people know what you've done and what you intend to do. Visible change.
    Let Your Voice Be Heard: (yes!) write, give presentations, contribute to your community.
    Build Your Brand: Don't water down your name, it is your brand. Build it (SEO stuff).
    Release Your Code: Put it on github or contribute to projects.
    Remarkability: Do something to be remarkable, don't just BE remarkable.
    Making the Hang: associate with the good people. Hang out with them.

Maintaining Your Edge:
    You've already lost your job: Everything changes, even your job description.
    Path with No Destination: Like the Dark Tower, the journey is the important part. Do good things along the way to promotions and titles.
    Make Yourself a Map: (meh) think of where you want to be tomorrow and beyond. Constantly do better.
    Watch the Market: Knowledge investments - you may need to drop technologies that are no longer applicable even though you've put a lot into them. You're still better by acquiring that knowledge.
    That Fat Man in the Mirror: You may need to check with people you don't see often to know how you're doing.
    The South Indian Monkey Trap: Don't be too rigid in your values (putting Linux on every desktop...)
    Avoid Waterfall Career Planning: change is necessary in your career. Make your career yours.
    Better than yesterday: (yes!) small, incremental improvements build over time. Just be better than you were yesterday.
    Go Independent: It really moves you whereas you can get too comfortable in large corporations. (been there, done that)

Have Fun!

The First 90 Days - Michael Watkins

Gives some strategies on how to be more effective in your first 90 days at a new job or in a new position. I couldn't finish it. I found it much too academic. He also repeatedly conveys the idea that the optimal approach will depend on your situation. It didn't give any useful tips, it just presented common sense ideas like "network with the people - they'll know the culture," "don't change too much too fast," "find people who will support you and make sure you support your boss."

It doesn't need a chapter by chapter breakdown. I didn't think it was that good. If I were a VP moving to be a CEO then it might be useful. I think that for most of us it will not be helpful.

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

The main idea I got from the book was that if you can find a reason to live - a meaning to life - then you can survive anything, even concentration camps.

Some ideas from the book:
There is no one overlying meaning - it is different for everyone and can change for the same person depending on their circumstances.

Logotherapy - therapy by finding meaning. Comes from the root of "logos"

You can find meaning through suffering, but only if it's unavoidable. Don't be a masochist.

Paradoxical intention: You can resolve a fear by doing the opposite. IE you can fix insomnia by having a person try to stay awake as long as they can.

Existential vacuum: The plague of our times. Life is devoid of meaning. (Maybe caused by a loss of religion and growth of mental health professions?)  The vacuum can cause boredom, which causes more psychological problems than distress.

Man is self-deterministic. We can decide what the meanings for our own lives.

When people give up, they turn to temporary pleasures like smoking cigarettes in camp.

People can't search for happiness and you can't give someone happiness. We can only find reasons to be happy. Then we will be happy.

More things to look up:
Solutions focussed therapy
Austrian Economics

The Paradox of Choice

The main idea I got from the book was that it is a good idea to stop being a maximizer and start being a satisficer more often. Satisficers look for something that meets their requirements, meaning it is "good enough." When they find it, they acquire it and move on to the next thing. Maximizers agonize over finding the "best" option and then are not happy when they finally get it.

Overall, it was very good. I think I fall into the trap of maximizing more than I should. I'll work on that.

Chapter-by-chapter summary:
1) Some choices don't matter much, such as which cereal or soap you buy, so don't agonize over them. There are overwhelming options available to us: products at the store, majors and programs in college, job opportunities. This makes decisions complicated.

2) A majority of people want more control over their lives, but a majority of people want to simplify their lives. What a paradox. Some choices (college, marriage, health insurance, retirement) do matter, but we're still faced with almost endless options.

3) We don't know what we really want and we can't process all of the available information effectively. This makes it difficult to reach an optimal decision.
Peak-end theory: The feelings at the peak and end of an experience determine how the experience overall gets remembered.
Endowment effects - when something becomes "yours," you assign it more value.

4) Be a satisficer, not a maximizer. Maximizing is worse than perfectionism because perfectionists are striving to become better whereas maximizers are always seeking the best and can never obtain it. Maximizing can be domain specific - meaning you can maximize for certain decisions but satisfice for others.

5) Rules can be helpful in that they are a way of pre-deciding and eliminate extra options. Relationships and closeness bring happiness.

6) Conflict raises avoidance of decisions. Opportunity costs complicate decisions because we factor in opportunity costs of all options rather than just one or two.

7) Omissions cause deeper regret than commissions. They are more long-term whereas commissions are short-term regrets. We regret things that we're responsible for more than things we just experience.

8) We adapt to good and bad. We get used to things like having a great car or fast computer. After a short amount of time, we don't realize how good it is. We should focus on how the things we have are actually pretty good.

9) Comparisons detract from satisfaction, especially social comparisons. We see some aspect of something that is better for someone else and it reduces our happiness with what we have.
The fear of failing is the curse of high expectations.

10) Depression might stem from the unlimited choices we have. Unlimited choices means expectation of perfection. Individualism emphasized in our society means that the responsibility of failure lands on us. This can cause a lot of worry.

11) Suggestions to overcome the paradox:
    1 - Choose when to choose. Make rules and pre-decide where appropriate.
    2 - Be a chooser, not a picker. Pickers pick from options, choosers evaluate needs.
    3 - Try to satisfice more than maximize.
    4 - Think of the cost of opportunity costs. Don't compare too many options.
    5 - Make decisions non-reversible. When we think there is an option to back out, it stays on our mind.
    6 - Have an attitude of gratitude. Make a list of 5 things your thankful for every night.
    7 - Regret less.
    8 - Anticipate adaptation. Think of how good things are right now.
    9 - Control expectations.
    10 - Curtail social comparison. Think of what makes you happy right now.
    11 - Learn to love constraints. Work inside of them.