In Hacking Work, authors Bill Jensen and Josh Klein discuss how breaking 'stupid' office rules can yield smart results. Plus, how to resolve workplace issues, one hack at a time
In Hacking Work, authors Bill Jensen and Josh Klein discuss how breaking 'stupid' office rules can yield smart results. Plus, how to resolve workplace issues, one hack at a time
ADVERTISEMENT
So what can you do? Start hacking. Start taking the usual ways of doing things and work around them to produce improved results. Bend the rules for the good of all. That's what benevolent hackers do.
You were born to hack
Have you ever called the person in charge of a process and negotiated an exception to a deadline or a rule? Then you're a hacker. You were born to hack. All children are. That's because hacking is the act of understanding a system well enough to take it apart, play with its inner workings, and do something about it.
Hacking work is forbidden innovation. It is the act of getting what you need to do by exploiting your best loopholes and creating work-arounds. It is taking the usual ways of doing things and bypassing them to produce improved results.
Hacking doesn't have to begin with a solution in mind. You don't have to necessarily have the right answer, nor does business necessarily have the wrong one. Hacking begins with "What if...?" and "I wonder why..."
Work-arounds from around the field
Changing the rules
Raveena, a corporate trainer who confides to her trainees that because of budget constraints much of what she provides "sucks". So she sends her trainees to free online sources outside of the company. Then, after testing them on what they learned, she validates their certificates in required courses they never attended. Result: They consistently learn more this way.
A great example ofu00a0co-creation
Finnish mobile phone company Nokia set up online environments called BlogHub and Sphere specifically to encourage and capture employee rants on what they think needs changing -- from its purchasing practices to how its software works.
More than an electronic suggestion box, these push-backs and critiques flow into company R&D, which includes nearly one of every three Nokia employees, or 39,000 people. Rapid changes in its touch screens, keyboards and specialised local services for customers all have their origins in employee rants.
Hacking Work; Bill Jensen and Josh Klein; Portfolio Penguin, Rs 399; Available at leading bookstores.
"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels 
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
