Recommend me books about modernising work

I work in a global role for a global megacorp. I used to work in a digital product sort of role, now I am in a marketing sort of role and the work practices are so old-fashioned – tons of meetings, synchronous working rather than asynchronous, lack of briefs or objectives and on.

I need to take my bosses on a journey so that they can learn about this brave new world of work, but I need to do it in a way that is not throwing myself on a landmine. I’m thinking of curating a reading list (e.g. Coming up for air), and I’m curious to know if anyone has any recommendations in the area.

Bingo !!!

Bingo !!!

Bugger, I only needed “passionate about customer outcomes” and I’d have had a line.

lack of briefs

I was a stripper, I know exactly how you feel.

Bullshit jobs: a theory, by David Graeber

Let my people go surfing, by Yvon Chouinard

Shopclass as soulcraft, by Matthew Crawford
(I didn’t love this last one, but YMMV)

Turn The Ship Around, by David Marquet

Creativity Inc, by Ed Catmull

Bullshit Jobs is one of my favourite books – and my job is clearly BS. Sadly my colleagues (and managers in particular) have drunk the KoolAid so pointing out that particularly self evident truth would be exceptionally unwise. Sadly.

The Phoenix Project is good. Quite IT focussed though but generally applicable elsewhere.

four books on my amazon *book list that marketeers / IT Analytic at work have said we should read

chimp paradox – steve peters

good to great how co make the leap – jim collins

the inevitable 12 technological forces shape our future – kevin kelly

the second machine age work, progress & prosperity – erik brynjolfsson / andrew mcafee

* i have not bought any of these let alone read them :0)

Let my people go surfing, by Yvon Chouinard – 100% this book.

For anything that involves why and how we use technology, why we do what we do, down to how to set a brief or begin a project – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
The most widely applicable and thought-provoking book I’ve read (from not a very long list admittedly but I rarely read fiction, mostly things in this general area or adventure stuff). I love it because it sits way above the detail of what to do and makes us think about why, priorities, personalities, work or brand values etc and without that no work process stuff works for long ime.

I liked Rework when I read it. Had some good pointers.

Also recommend a listen to Shreyas Doshi on the Farnam Street / TKP podcast (which is an excellent resource)

He really gets to the crux of many aspects of product development. I don’t work with tech products but the way his insights and ideas are so relevant to other workplaces is why it’s so good.

Re-wired by Eric Lamarre – talks about the shift to more product centric organisations where the tech and business “should” work more closely together.

Fully realising that this is one of those “I’m not interested in this, so here’s my opinion about it” type posts, I’m always slightly intrigued by people who view work as a thing to so interested and engaged in, to the point that they’ll be thinking, reading and listening to stuff about it in their own time.

Tony Wagner – although more on the innovation, creativity and education end of things.

I had to put Zen and the art down, it had some really good points but my brain just couldn’t deal with it, I should go back and properly understand it (I tend to understand through doing) rather than reading it all into my head.

IHN- I’m kind of that way, since being a kid I’ve always loved design, studied it at uni and got crap for being in the library forever when everyone else was getting stoned playing Tony Hawk, I read about design in my own time, read books on Zara Hadid or whatnot, genuinely passionate about developing good products, I kind of struggle to see it the other way, I couldnt deal with the clock watching of just doing ‘a job’

Good thread though, I’ll check some of the recommendations out, don’t think I have anything better to offer

IHN- I’m kind of that way, since being a kid I’ve always loved design, studied it at uni and got crap for being in the library forever when everyone else was getting stoned playing Tony Hawk, I read about design in my own time, read books on Zara Hadid or whatnot, genuinely passionate about developing good products, I kind of struggle to see it the other way, I couldnt deal with the clock watching of just doing ‘a job’

I can kind of get that for things like design and, as MOAB has put, educational type stuff, things that are more kind of, I dunno, ‘vocational’ or that you’ve always been interested in. But for ‘marketing role in a global megacorp’ then, guh…

And just because you put work behind when you leave work doesn’t mean you’re clock watching whilst you’re there. I don’t clock watch, I enjoy my job, but when I’m not at work I do not want to be thinking about work.

I’m in a professional services role but also sit as part of our technical group for my specialism that deals with process and legislative/regulatory stuff.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande is good.  It’s application is wider than it’s title and it’s very readable.

Managing for Happiness by Jürgen Appelo has some nice ideas

Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein is the book global megacorps should have at the top of their reading lists…