Hacking Work: Breaking Stupid Rules for Smart Results

Does this scenario sound familiar?

“Business’s infrastructure is not keeping up with us. That which was supposed to help us now dictates too much of what we can’t get done. Our tools have become more bossy than our bosses.

“What makes this story so urgent and timely isn’t just what a pain in the ass all this is, or even that it’s costing us our jobs— it’s that it’s so devastating at the same time there are quantum leaps everywhere but work. Even though business spent $1.5 trillion on info tech in 2010,1 the tools we have outside of work are leapfrogging past what we use on the job.”

It’s shocking

Moreover, “When a twelve-year-old can gather information faster, process it better, reference more diverse professionals, and get volunteer guidance from better sources than you can at work, how can you pretend you’re competitive? When you have more empowering tools in your mobile phone for your personal use than what your company provides or approves for your projects— how can you work within, or be saved from, devastating market forces? You can’t,” the authors admonish us.

So what can you do? Start hacking.

Consultant Bill Jensen teamed up with hacker Josh Klein to expose the cheat codes that enable people to work smarter instead of harder. Once employees learn how to hack their work, they accomplish more in less time. They cut through red tape and circumvent stupid rules.

Hacking Work speaks to all workers who feel stymied by overbearing and outdated bureaucratic rules and regulations, that prevent work from getting done easily and efficiently. Hacking Work offers real-life stories of smart hacks in the workplace, and simple solutions to help you find “work arounds” and overcome barriers to effectiveness and productivity.

When the authors speak about hacking, they are talking about benevolent hacking, and provide an ethical guide to doing good, doing well, and doing no harm, with guidelines on where to draw the line between benevolence and going too far.

As an innovation consultant, I have met high-performing Gen X and Y innovators in organizations, who, out of frustration with the standard way of getting things done, take matters into their own hands, and hack their way into producing great results for the company, the customer, and themselves. I didn’t realise there is an army of such hackers, but I do know if managers let people know WHAT the goal is, and get out of the way, employees will figure out a better way to get things done.

This book is easy to read and digest. Buy Hacking Work at Amazon, and use it to find a simpler, smarter way to get your work done.