REWORK

Latest Episodes:

The Distance: Steeped In History Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

Nom Wah Tea Parlor is New York Chinatown’s oldest dim sum restaurant. For decades, it served Cantonese dumplings and rolls in the traditional way, from trolleys pushed around the restaurant. When Wilson Tang took over Nom Wah in 2011, he switched from trolleys to menus with pictures and started serving dim sum through dinner. He also opened new locations that broadened Nom Wah’s repertoire beyond dim sum. These were big changes for a restaurant that opened in 1920, but Wilson saw them as measures to secure Nom Wah’s future for its next century in business.

This episode first aired on The Distance in May 2017. Nom Wah has reduced operations due to COVID-19, but you can support the restaurant by purchasing merchandise: https://nomwah.com/shop/.

Remote Work Q&A, Part 1 Mar 20, 2020

Show notes

Earlier this week, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson held a live Q&A about remote work. We're splitting the session into two episodes. Part 1 covers questions about video calls, brainstorming, setting priorities, and good management during a time of stressful transition. If you'd like to watch the Q&A session in its entirety, you can do that on Periscope. You can also check out Basecamp's Guide to Internal Communication.

Show Notes

Jason and David's book, REMOTE: Office Not Required - 00:55

The full session on Periscope - 1:00

Question 1: In a workplace with a mix of local and remote workers, what are some good strategies for making the remote workers feel more connected and not left out of office events? - 8:12

Basecamp's Automatic Check-ins feature - 9:25

Question 2: How do you qualify employees and gain trust if you don’t meet in person? - 14:14

Question 3: How do you handle the transition in a company that hasn't been very remote until now and can't make a quick switch to writing more? - 18:30

A Guide to Managing Remote Teams by Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team - 19:40

Question 4: How do you handle video meetings with more than 20 people? - 23:44

"Is group chat making you sweat?" (Signal v. Noise) - 30:00

Question 5: How do you prioritize tasks? What's your productivity system or non-system? - 30:14

Shape Up, Basecamp's book about product development - 30:50

Question 6: Do you believe any developer/designer/product manager can work remotely? - 36:09

Question 7: How would you host a brainstorming meeting? - 38:17

Question 8: How do you properly handle large layoffs of more than 10 people? - 40:51

"Stanley's Abruptly Closes After 52 Years of Selling Affordable Produce, Longtime Workers Caught Off Guard" (Block Club Chicago) - 44:30

Question 9: What are the key things I can do as a manager of a small team to make remote working a great experience within my team, even if our company culture is still catching up after being forced to go full remote? - 46:02

The (Social) Distance Mar 17, 2020

Show notes

Basecamp is a remote company, so we're less disrupted by the current pandemic than many other businesses, but we're still taking steps to keep folks safe. Jason Fried talks about canceling the company's April meetup and closing the Chicago office. Rework will be taking a few weeks off so we can get set up with recording studios at home. In the meantime, if you're working from home for the first time, we'd love to hear your stories! Please get in touch at hello@rework.fm (you can write an email or send us a voice memo) or leave us a voicemail at 708-628-7850.

Show Notes

Tearing the heart out of Saturday night - 00:06

Joe Bob Briggs' series, The Last Drive-In - 0:14

Joe Bob Briggs: How Rednecks Saved Hollywood - 00:27

Our recent episode about leaving the Chicago office - 1:10

RailsConf - 5:59

The Distance - 8:57

Wailin learned about fomites from this 2013 New Yorker article and now she won't stop talking about them - 10:46

Work, Rest, and What You Will Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

We at Basecamp love to preach the virtues of the 8-hour work day, but where did it come from? (Hint: Not from Henry Ford!) Labor historian Emily Twarog explains the origins of the 8-hour work day and why it was so short-lived in the U.S.

Show Notes

"This CEO thinks it's crazy to work more than 40 hours a week" (CNN) - 00:34

"Extreme Capitalism with Jason Calacanis," the episode that credits Henry Ford with the 8-hour work day - 1:04

"Did the 8-hour day and the 40-hour week come from Henry Ford, or labor unions?" (Politifact) - 1:06

Emily Twarog | Twitter - 1:10

"The Mill Girls of Lowell" (National Park Service) - 1:54

The Lowell Offering - 3:04

"Fire of 1871" (Encyclopedia of Chicago) - 3:51

A history of McCormick's reaper works factory - 4:59

An overview of the Haymarket Riot - 5:24

A history of the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 - 5:54

The U.S. Department of Labor's history of the Fair Labor Standards Act - 11:02

The National Labor Relations Board's FAQs on the National Labor Relations Act - 11:06

Fight for $15 - 29:17

"She was Instacart's biggest cheerleader. Now she's leading a worker revolt" (Washington Post) - 29:29

Emily Twarog's book, Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth-Century America - 31:25

Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse - 31:36

On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger - 31:45

Rug Life Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

Jarred Lustgarten left a Wall Street career to start a rug-cleaning business with $600 in borrowed money and a stack of flyers. A decade later, J.L. Carpet & Upholstery is profitable and Jarred has a very visible reminder on his hands of his commitment to his vocation.

Show Notes

Irin Carmon's website | Twitter - 00:40

J.L. Carpet & Upholstery - 1:23

Irin's tweet about Jarred's tattoo | Jarred's tattoo - 1:50

New York Daily News columnist Harry Siegel's tweet in response - 2:18

New York Rug Life - 2:49

Lisa Wagner's website, Rug Chick - 15:52

Park Slope Parents - 17:39

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik - 26:32

Delete Your Account Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

Basecamp the app is over 15 years old, which means Basecamp the company is responsible for safeguarding more than a decade's worth of customer data—including 370 terabytes of data stored in non-active accounts. In this episode, Basecamp data analyst Jane Yang talks about a big, ongoing project at the company to clean up those inactive accounts and give former customers what we all deserve: the right to be forgotten on the Internet. Two Basecamp alums also return to share the history of the company's data incineration protocol.

Show Notes

Jamis Buck on Twitter - 2:05

Jason Fried's tribute to Jamis - 2:22

Eileen Uchitelle's website | Twitter - 3:15

the tweet by @FiloSottile about data being uranium, not gold - 7:04

our episode about the credential stuffing attack - 13:04

blog post explaining how Basecamp notified customers about the credential stuffing - 13:32

Basecamp's cancellation policy - 21:46

Basecamp Personal - 21:53

Tom Anderson from MySpace is on Instagram now and his profile photo should look familiar - 23:48

Mazes for Programmers by Jamis Buck - 26:24

Basil & Fabian by Jamis Buck - 26:25

Extreme Capitalism with Jason Calacanis Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

Basecamp co-founder and CTO David Heinemeier Hansson and entrepreneur and angel investor Jason Calacanis debate the gig economy, democratic socialism, and whether the American dream is dead. The conversation in this episode is adapted from a longer interview that can be found in full at This Week in Startups.

Poetry at Work Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Some of our most famous poets had day jobs: Robert Burns was a tax collector; William Carlos Williams was a doctor; Audre Lorde was a librarian and professor. Poetry has a lot to say about work and can serve as a meeting place, a provocative memo, or a break from the daily grind. In this episode, we hear from the creator of Poetry At Work Day and the editor of Poetry magazine about the power of verse in the workplace. And some Basecamp colleagues share poems that are meaningful to them.

Show Notes

Days of the Year - 00:08

The origins of "Be A Pineapple" - 00:55

Poetry At Work Day 2020 - 2:00

Take Your Poet to Work Day - 2:18

Laura Barkat's website | Twitter - 2:26

"The African Chief" by William Cullen Bryant - 2:45

Tweetspeak Poetry - 3:06

"Wasp" by Tony Hoagland - 4:12

Don Share | Poetry magazine - 5:04

"The Instruction Manual" by John Ashbery - 5:22

"Toads" by Philip Larkin - 6:22

Our recent episode about moving out of Basecamp's current office - 6:57

"My First Memory (of Librarians)" by Nikki Giovanni - 7:06

"Evangeline" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 8:08

Tweetspeak Poetry's Daily Poem email - 11:58

The Poetry Foundation's Audio Poem of the Day - 12:05

The Slowdown podcast - 12:11

"On Clothes" by Kahlil Gibran - 13:15

"This Is Just To Say" by William Carlos Williams - 14:41

"This is just to say we have explained the plum jokes in your Twitter feed" (Vox) - 14:56

Lotus-eaters (Wikipedia) - 15:43

"The Lotos-eaters" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson - 15:59

"A Ritual to Read to Each Other" by William E. Stafford - 16:31

Kat Gaskin on Instagram - 22:02

"A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted" by John O'Donohue - 22:19

Try Everything Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

Every year for the past decade, Mert Iseri has chosen a new skill to learn. This annual challenge has taken him from a magicians' club to chess tournaments where he's competed against eight-year-olds. In this episode, Mert talks about chasing the joy of being challenged just the right amount and what he's learned from being an enthusiastic beginner.

Show Notes

Mert Iseri on Twitter - 2:49

Basecamp's Continuing Education Allowance benefit - 3:22

SwipeSense - 4:45

The Game of the Century - 8:24

Chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley - 9:15

Pioneers Palaces - 10:03

Garry Kasparov's seminar on MasterClass - 10:14

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - 14:49

Lillstreet Art Center - 21:44

It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson - 24:33

Chicago Magic Lounge - 28:59

Chicago Magic Round Table - 30:00

Free Solo - 32:56

Max Maven performs B'Wave - 38:52

The Road Out Of Startupland Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

Sahil Lavingia once believed his startup was headed for unicorn status, but his journey through Silicon Valley—the viral launch on Hacker News, $8 million in venture capital, the glowing press—led to a very different outcome. In this episode, Sahil reflects on life outside the literal and figurative confines of Silicon Valley, and the satisfaction he gets from building a sustainable business.

Show Notes

"Is Venture Capital Worth the Risk?" (The New Yorker) - 00:51

"The deal Jeff Bezos got on Basecamp" (Signal v. Noise) - 1:55

Sahil Lavingia on Twitter | Gumroad - 2:05

Vibram shoes - 6:00

Jon Wheatley founded DailyBooth, a YCombinator company - 7:22

"Pinterest Has Already Pinned Down $10M At A $40M Valuation" (TechCrunch) - 7:31

Bebo is a now-defunct social networking company - 7:54

"SoftBank's Vision Fund Is a Graveyard of Broken Tech Startups" (Vice) - 9:47

"Gumroad Gets $7 Million Series A From Kleiner Perkins For Indie E-Payment Platform" (TechCrunch) - 11:43

Basecamp Personal - 15:45

Her (film) on Wikipedia - 21:01