Rework jason fried

Four-letter words 
 
There are four-letter words you should never use in business. They're not fuck or 
shit. They're need, must, can't, easy, just, only, and fast. These words get in the way of 
healthy communication. They are red flags that introduce animosity, torpedo good 
discussions, and cause projects to be late.  
 
When you use these four-letter words, you create a black-and-white situation. But 
the truth is rarely black and white. So people get upset and problems ensue. Tension and 
conflict are injected unnecessarily. 
 
Here's what's wrong with some of them:Need. Very few things actually need to 
get done. Instead of saying "need," you're better off saying "maybe" or "What do you 
think about this?" or "How does this sound?" or "Do you think we could get away with 
that?" Can't. When you say "can't," you probably can. Sometimes there are even 

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opposing can'ts: "We can't launch it like that, because it's not quite right" versus "We 
can't spend any more time on this because we have to launch." Both of those statements 
can't be true. Or wait a minute, can they? Easy. Easy is a word that's used to describe 
other people's jobs. "That should be easy for you to do, right?" But notice how rarely 
people describe their own tasks as easy. For you, it's "Let me look into it"--but for others, 
it's "Get it done."  
 
These four-letter words often pop up during debates (and also watch out for their 
cousins: everyone, no one, always, and never). Once uttered, they make it tough to find a 
solution. They box you into a corner by pitting two absolutes against each other. That's 
when head-butting occurs. You squeeze out any middle ground.  
 
And these words are especially dangerous when you string them together: "We 
need to add this feature now. We can't launch without this feature. Everyone wants it. It's 
only one little thing so it will be easy. You should be able to get it in there fast!" Only 
thirty-six words, but a hundred assumptions. That's a recipe for disaster. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ASAP is poison 
 
Stop saying ASAP. We get it. It's implied. Everyone wants things done as soon as 
they can be done. 
 
When you turn into one of these people who adds ASAP to the end of every 
request, you're saying everything is high priority. And when everything is high priority, 
nothing is. (Funny how everything is a top priority until you actually have to prioritize 
things.) 
 
ASAP is inflationary. It devalues any request that doesn't say ASAP. Before you 
know it, the only way to get anything done is by putting the ASAP sticker on it. 
 
Most things just don't warrant that kind of hysteria. If a task doesn't get done this 
very instant, nobody is going to die. Nobody's going to lose their job. It won't cost the 
company a ton of money. What it will do is create artificial stress, which leads to burnout 
and worse. 
 
So reserve your use of emergency language for true emergencies. The kind where 
there are direct, measurable consequences to inaction. For everything else, chill out. 

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