Recently I picked up "Designing your work life" by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans at my local bookstore. I'd read "Designing your life" when it first came out and had been unimpressed by it, for the reasons that the authors give in writing a second book: the first book was probably helpful for people willing to start over with a completely blank slate, but for people already in jobs and careers, it was not particularly useful. Much to my surprise, Designing your work life turned out to be an excellent read that exactly met the needs that the first book did not fulfill. I would for instance recommend it to graduates who are a few years out of school and are wondering about their next step, but it can also be used by mid-career professionals ten or fifteen (or twenty!) years out of school.
The book contains so many nuggets of great advice it is hard to know where to begin, so I will just provide an overview of the chapters, and interested readers should get the book and read the whole thing.
- Chapter 1 is about the concept of good enough for now ("when we live our lives waiting to get somewhere, the only place we get is stuck"). A Stanford professor once said, "Never confuse the quality of a decision with the quality of the outcome - they are two different things." Further, there is a distinction between reframing and renaming. The key is to "have a bias to action but set the bar low, clear it, then do it again." Generally, the book advocates to only quit in a burn-the-bridges-way as a last resort. The authors recommend keeping a Good Work Journal to notice what energizes you at work and puts you in a state of flow, and reflecting weekly on the previous seven days.
- In Chapter 2, the authors talk about the Coherent Life, combining Workview (the set of values you use to define good work) and Lifeview (what makes life worthwhile). They argue that it is often not possible to find your passion and get paid to do it. Instead, you need to evaluate your life and your work according to three dimensions: money, impact and expression.
- Chapter 3 is about reframing problems into Minimum Actionable Problems that you can work on. (Ask yourself what is going on, and then ask yourself what is really going on.) For instance, instead of saying the problem is that your boss is "just a jerk", a way to reframe the problem would be to say "my boss rarely gives positive feedback, so how might I receive explicit appreciation for my work from someone else in my organization?" You have to be careful not to embed one of your preferred solutions into the problem statement, for instance hinting that spontaneously given feedback is the "good" kind.) Then the authors introduce the concept of Best Doable Option. ("Many of the really hard problems in life are best treated as multiple choice tests. You don't really have to figure it all out -- all you have to know is enough to choose.") Other concepts are anchor problems (where the problem is defined as one of the preferred solutions from the start, keeping the person stuck) and gravity problems (where there is nothing the person can do.)
- Chapter 4 is about overwhelm. There is an interesting test about burnout at the beginning of the chapter. The authors present three flavors to overwhelm: Hydra (everyday overwhelm where you have too much on your plate), Happy Overwhelm (you love everything you're doing but need to delegate more) and Hyper Overwhelm (where you basically build the plane and try to fly it at the same time).
- Chapter 5 is about mindset, grit and the ARC of your career, where ARC stands for Autonomy, Relatedness and Competence.
- Chapter 6 is about power and politics, and argues that employees can learn how to succeed by learning how to manage influence, authority and power. The chapter includes an interesting influence x authority matrix.
- Chapter 7 argues against resigning (if the job is not a great fit) and advocates for redesigning one's job instead. This would probably be my top recommendation as a chapter to read for graduates thinking about a job change. The authors explain: "Before you quit, make sure that you have maximized all of your available options in place where you work. The better job (or gig) you seek may be the one right next to you." They offer 4 possible strategies: reframe and reenlist, remodel, relocate or reinvent.
- Chapter 8 is about quitting well, because that is sometimes necessary, in spite of the authors' earlier advice. That would be my third recommendation as a chapter for graduates to read, if they are considering a job change. (My second recommendation is the following chapter, Chapter 9.) Instead of a bridge-burner approach or a two-week-lame-duck approach, the authors advocate a generative-quitting approach, where basically you set up your successor for success and leave the company on good terms. In detail: leave the campsite better than you found it, rev up your network, set up your replacement to win and exit well.
- Chapter 9 is about moving on, aka the job search for another job. (Second-best recommendation.)
- Chapter 10 is about becoming an entrepreneur and being your own boss. There is a lot of excellent advice about prototyping and the customer's journey map.
All in all, a great read, highly recommended!
