Review of 'Almanack of Naval Ravikant' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Here we go! Twitter threads compiled into a "book" & sold on Amazon (it contains affiliate links to other books too :D ) Despite one's lazy attempt to make a shit tonne of money, it doesn't diminish the value of essays by Naval; he is an exciting person of today. I always liked his writings, and the compilation was a good choice.
p.s. in 2022 he suddenly broke his own rules and went full steam condemning support to Ukraine. This clearly threw some dirt on his reputation, and not without a reason. I'd suggest sticking to stuff you know, Naval.
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, …
Review of 'The Comfort Crisis' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
The book 'institute', as such, is in deep trouble. No more research, no more thinking. You pour it all out, make it emotional, and you throw it out as a simple, easy-to-digest brochure. Calling it a book irritates me a lot.
Juvenile thoughts on 'connecting with nature' along with incoherent pieces of seemingly unrelated studies on being alone, education, conformism, beta-males and the flow by M.C. (I can't spell it, by the author didn't seem to read the whole work of his; otherwise he would understand what level of nonsense he managed to attribute to the concept of Flow as in the book). There is a story of hunting down deer and whatnot in the cold, getting out there and experiencing the world. As a story, that would be pretty cool to digest; I would pay for it. But then he mumbles about all these unrelated studies he happens to …
The book 'institute', as such, is in deep trouble. No more research, no more thinking. You pour it all out, make it emotional, and you throw it out as a simple, easy-to-digest brochure. Calling it a book irritates me a lot.
Juvenile thoughts on 'connecting with nature' along with incoherent pieces of seemingly unrelated studies on being alone, education, conformism, beta-males and the flow by M.C. (I can't spell it, by the author didn't seem to read the whole work of his; otherwise he would understand what level of nonsense he managed to attribute to the concept of Flow as in the book). There is a story of hunting down deer and whatnot in the cold, getting out there and experiencing the world. As a story, that would be pretty cool to digest; I would pay for it. But then he mumbles about all these unrelated studies he happens to know about, all the useless interviews he bluntly tries to squeeze into the case he made. For example, one of the studies he quotes (there is no such a thing as a quote, you have to look it up separately, no exact links are given) concerns leaving your workspace to the park for 20 minutes daily. There are attempts to link it to the narrative, but it stinks a lot. No coherent idea, just many patches pretty similar to those usually listed in those motivational videos on Youtube (you read that Leo? Hardy? Koe? Schweitzer? ).
They digest those unhappy synthetic meals of 'thought' & throw out those video synthetics for you to feel bad & elevated (as they encourage you to take STEPS AND FOLLOW the stuff they preach in those 9.99 USD books available on AMZN). Admittedly, one of them suggested this book (Schweitzer) explicitly underlining how FUNDAMENTAL this book is. (Dude, if that's the best stuff you ever read, I am pretty worried about you).
God, how come we ended up reading synthesized products of other synthesized products that lack any connection to reality whatsoever? Today a book can be written by every monkey out there. If the distribution is suitable, the content is not that important. People don't buy books for the content; it is a collectable item making you feel good.
The Goal is about new global principles of manufacturing. It's about people trying to understand …
Review of 'The Goal' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Superb! And I was sure Gene Kim's Phoenix was original. Well, if you liked it - you will definitely find The Goal very thought-provoking without cheesy scrum examples. I liked it a lot; it reads like a novel with some serious call in there - done with a goal in mind, every enterprise has a chance to succeed with new & ongoing initiatives.
I haven't read a compelling management book in years; I think the last one was written by Lacoca on his career. Other than that it is difficult to find something useful these days.
Review of 'Art of Agile Product Ownership' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book isn't for me; it is basically an overview of agile with all its roles and the idea of Product Ownership. I wish I had had a book like this when I started as a PO.
I'd recommend this book to senior management & owners - these folks are creating bullshit roles without knowing how the whole thing is supposed to work. Then they tend to hire people based on stuff they read on agile once and... make them do the opposite, how they see fit. This wastes time and psychic energy. I was entrapped like these two already, I got myself into a servant-master BDSM relationship with HIPPO, and these people are not that bright, to say the least. Gosh, I wish someone had explained how to spot those bogus agile companies, so I didn't have to manage paperweights and be that ugly ticket monkey. Amen!
Review of 'The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Frankly speaking, it got somewhat dull by the end of it; it may be something about the translation (Polish version) but I doubt it, it is slightly characteristic of the 'business-like' brochures like this one as the target audience is evident. But enjoyed it a lot, especially the cases described in a very lively manner - got me into aeronautics & construction books, and couldn't resist :D
To stay competitive in today’s market, organizations need to adopt a culture of customer-centric practices …
Review of 'Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A PM is entering a decaying low-quality course hosting company and... makes it work. The lousiness & cheesiness of some of stories make you wash hands twice. It reminds me on the Phoenix Project by Kim.
Also, the vast majority of examples in books like these describe some run-down town copy/print joints to avoid even mentioning real companies they worked at. The value of examples goes down by a big margin.
If you remove the cheesy story - it would make some 3-5 medium posts maximum, don't waste your dollars, you can find it all online.
"If you haven't had the good fortune to be coached by a strong leader or …
Review of 'Continuous Discovery Habits' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I liked it quite a bit. We have managed to built a trio but the technical components is missing - we do PM, Designer & Analyst and at times I underestimate the complexity of a solution. Damn, I don't have to do the solutions! I don't have to care about timely deliveries! The majority of Product Managers in Eastern Europe are agile project managers at best. What an ugly environment to exist in. I need a drink.
Last but not least. I am always puzzled by examples in books like this one - we have got a plenty of them literally presenting a problem to us on some live company. I do have a problem with the solutions though - everything sounds cheesy and phantastique with a considerate amount of bravado one doesn't have to deal with. Also, these companies probably never existed with names like that. I definitely haven't …
I liked it quite a bit. We have managed to built a trio but the technical components is missing - we do PM, Designer & Analyst and at times I underestimate the complexity of a solution. Damn, I don't have to do the solutions! I don't have to care about timely deliveries! The majority of Product Managers in Eastern Europe are agile project managers at best. What an ugly environment to exist in. I need a drink.
Last but not least. I am always puzzled by examples in books like this one - we have got a plenty of them literally presenting a problem to us on some live company. I do have a problem with the solutions though - everything sounds cheesy and phantastique with a considerate amount of bravado one doesn't have to deal with. Also, these companies probably never existed with names like that. I definitely haven't heard of them. Why would I care about some DVD rental in Iowa if we have got Uber? or Tesla? Or Airbnb for God's sake. This part - the examples - always makes you think that there are people writing books and Product people making cool products happen. These are different people and examples like 'Jim's Car Wash' make this book lose its credibility.
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's …
Review of 'Skunk works' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
not a great as Kelly's, lots of commentaries of other folks listed in no oder, total chaos in chapter organization, sometimes you get lost but I presume he wrote it over a long span of time so it is okayish; also, some things are repeating over and over, over and over. It could be shorter but still a very interesting read on 'agile' in its engineering meaning, MVPs, testing and building workable prototypes.
Great work!
p.s. reading some of his notes on bureaucracy makes you boil, I have experienced very similar cases on my watch in private companies, some people just can't let others do their work. They will fuck up everything others' built just because they can't help it. Miserable maggots. Because of the conformists we don't have many things we deserve as a humanity.
it is brilliant! humble, to the point, a huge load of examples relevant to me as a PM with a sauce of real life cases you can check; splendid stories, a bit of humor in there too. I enjoyed this one a lot, especially the stories behind sr-71 and U-2, I couldn't imagine great airplanes were built this way, I am hooked forever and I am seriously considering a license.
"Conventional analysis suffers from a profound failure of imagination. It imagines passing clouds to be …
Review of 'The Next 100 Years' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I pretty much liked the first 180 pages but I couldn't finish it. Yes, this book's first part based on our past and, more importantly, our present makes a compelling scheme of things. While some of the predictions failed already as Russia wouldn't wait with its moves but who's able to predict it all? The chaos of Isis, Russia as a gas station for EU and many other things are obvious even for a rookie like me.
But if you have the courage to read on George's views on our future - damn, I was lost before I even started. Hidden lunar bases? Battle stars by 2050? Seeing all the stuff happening, the prediction sounds like a web series - Altered Carbon meets Expanse with lots of political flavors we living with today.
I couldn't turn the page after I have read it will be cheaper for the Japanese to …
I pretty much liked the first 180 pages but I couldn't finish it. Yes, this book's first part based on our past and, more importantly, our present makes a compelling scheme of things. While some of the predictions failed already as Russia wouldn't wait with its moves but who's able to predict it all? The chaos of Isis, Russia as a gas station for EU and many other things are obvious even for a rookie like me.
But if you have the courage to read on George's views on our future - damn, I was lost before I even started. Hidden lunar bases? Battle stars by 2050? Seeing all the stuff happening, the prediction sounds like a web series - Altered Carbon meets Expanse with lots of political flavors we living with today.
I couldn't turn the page after I have read it will be cheaper for the Japanese to create rockets out of lunar stones with jet engines attached to them. While it sounds plausible I can't imagine it happening by 2050, looks like we will be busy dying on Earth before that.
"The missing manual on how to apply Lean Startup to build products that customers love …
Review of 'The lean product playbook' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I really liked this one; simple, lower than usual level of watery bs - all more or less practical and down to earth; I wish I could force everyone on my team to read it, the best way to fix irrationalities I am seeing on a daily basis;
