Book Review: The Business Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

Review

Title: The Business Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained (Audiobook format)

Author(s): Dorling Kindersley Ltd (DK)

I am lately expanding to not only reading about pure technology related topics, and business is something I don't pay much attention to, and I should. I also decided to digest this title in the form of an audiobook, convinced that, with a duration over 16 hours, it was not going to be a smaller version of the textbook. I definitely don't regret spending the time.

Inside, we find a lot. As the description says, learning about "more than 80 theories and big ideas about trade, commerce, and management" means it can't spend too much on each topic, and while a few feel too brief, it's enough to spark interest on reading more of any that sounds interesting to you. All of them go from the past up until 2013, so a few times it feels a bit outdated. For example, mentions Netflix, Amazon and Dell, but the data and sometimes even the techniques mentioned are different today (e.g. Dell now offers a much narrower customization of laptops/PCs, precisely what in the past made it so successful).

There are great insights and topics relevant today, from applying Kaizen, to the benefits of cross-functional teams, and of course mentions the Agile Manifesto. There are very few software related theories, mostly are generic, which I appreciate as we can still apply them, but they are less "tainted" this way. Again as an example, we're told studies and experiments were made to confirm that cross-functional teams work better, faster and even create stronger bonds between its members. Now think about the typical silos in software company: Systems, Design, Product,...

I've focused on a few samples, but there are way more. Even the book cover provides some hints about what you will find inside:

I enjoyed it a lot, so much as to going to read/listen to more titles from DK, and maybe even in the future grab the book to see the illustrations (which look to be really nice summaries).