|
Overview of Never Wrestle with a Pig
by Mark McCormack
 
The book is a collection of ninety separate ideas. It's a little difficult to find a theme that flows through the entire book. While many of his ninety chapters deal with thriving in a large company, he presents a lot of lessons that would help independent software developers increase their income, and preserve their sanity.
Here are examples of his advice:
McCormack describes himself as a fanatic about maximizing his days, hours, minutes, and seconds. While I don't share this particular obsession, I think all of us can increase our productivity by reading fewer Usenet newsgroups and visiting fewer web sites.
When it comes to assessing our own skills, McCormack writes, "Many people don't know what they are good at. That's ignorance. An equal number think they're good at something, but they're really not. That's delusion. Whether you're ignorant or deluded, everyone needs an objective, outside party to help them identify their true talent."
Learn to make decisions, even when you don't have all the facts, and when you haven't developed all of the arguments, pro and con.
"Plow horses tend to overthink things. Racehorses are sometimes guilty of underthinking. Sometimes they go too fast and overshoot their target. But the superstars at a company are mostly racehorses. They're the people on the go, moving places in a positive direction, stirring things up, making things happen."
Learn to say "no." People who can't say "no" are often unorganized, and under-performing.
Software Developers Will Enjoy Mark McCormack's
Never Wrestle with a Pig
While the book isn't about the software industry, there is a lot of good advice here. The title article - "Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and only the pig enjoys it." is good advice for anybody who is tempted to enter a newsgroup argument. And it's always great to be reminded that how we use our time isn't something apart from how we live our lives. How we spend our time IS our lives.
McCormack believes that the best ideas can't be stolen. In our industry, where software designs are stolen multiple times every day, I found this idea controversial. McCormack also holds the notion that some ideas deserve to be stolen.
Don't be paralyzed by fear. Overestimate your competition. Don't be seduced by big ideas. Don't let brainstorming destroy creativity.
The chapters on office politics don't pertain to the one- and two-person companies that most of us run. But if we consider our offices to be our workplaces, with interactions with stakeholders that include suppliers, eCommerce companies, download site owners, and other vendors, then McCormack's advice is very useful. The chapters on rule-making are particularly useful for dealing with these stakeholders.
Should Software Authors Read Mark McCormack's Book?
This 300-page book is an easy read. It's great when somebody with real-life experiences takes the time to share his ideas. I recommend it.
Quick Links:
Lists: computer, business
, education, multimedia, game, programming, others
Ordering: place an order, prices and time frames, sample news releases, about us
Information: free newsletters, press release FAQ
Copyright © 1997-2010 DP Directory, Inc.
|
. |
. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Press releases put your software in front of thousands of eyeballs.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
The press release that you send to the editorsand bloggers has to be in the format that they can use.
Hire a professional marketing person to write your press release, rather than a programmer who is sending press releases as a side business.
You owe it to yourself to do it right!
|
|
|
|
|
Software selling info, without the hype, in your inbox once a month. Free.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Who needs a monthly newsletter about software marketing? Anybody who wants to sell more software.
Subscribe Now!
|
|
|
|
|
Buy the book from amazon.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
