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Badass: Making Users Awesome

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Imagine you’re in a game with one objective: a bestselling product or service. The rules? No marketing budget, no PR stunts, and it must be sustainably successful. No short-term fads.

This is not a game of chance. It is a game of skill and strategy.

And it begins with a single question: given competing products of equal pricing, promotion, and perceived quality, why does one outsell the others?

The answer doesn’t live in the sustainably successful products or services. The answer lives in those who use them.

Our goal is to craft a strategy for creating successful users. And that strategy is full of surprising, counter-intuitive, and astonishingly simple techniques that don’t depend on a massive marketing or development budget. Techniques typically overlooked by even the most well-funded, well-staffed product teams.

Every role is a key player in this game. Product development, engineering, marketing, user experience, support—everyone on the team. Even if that team is a start-up of one. Armed with a surprisingly overlooked science and a unique POV, we can can reduce the role of luck. We can build sustainably successful products and services that rely not on unethical persuasive marketing tricks but on helping our users have deeper, richer experiences. Not just in the moments while they’re using our product but, more importantly, in the moments when they aren’t.

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

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About the author

Kathy Sierra

29 books137 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
Profile Image for Dimitri Trofim.
15 reviews6 followers
September 16, 2017
It is very difficult for me to rate this book. Before I read it, I had heard a lot of recommendations and reviews, all of them described the book as a 'must read'. And many of them were from people I respect. I even watched one of Kathy Sierra's conference talks (unfortunately, don't remember which exactly), but I remember clearly that I liked the way she spoke, her ideas. I thought that she was a brilliant speaker and that the book should definitely be great and that someday I must read it. And then the title of the book -- Badass. Making Users Awesome -- sounded so provocative, as it suggests that the book contains some secret knowledge and the author is badass (whatever that means) herself, that she won't hide anything from you, everything will be revealed as it truly is and you, the reader, will eventually become awesome. Because you will know how to make your users awesome. Or badass. And I also wanted to know what this word actually means.

But then, when I finally managed to get the book and opened it, the disappointments began.
The first was, that it wasn't actually a book, but more like an oral presentation with 280+ slides filled with short statements and huge pictures. Seemed very strange.
But then I thought, that maybe the author wants to make her _user_ -- a reader -- so _awesome_, that he would be able to read a real book, even if the most that he is used to reading is tweets and comics. Or if it could be a first book for somebody. So that's why she chose such a writing style. Never mind, it still could contain a secret knowledge even in that strange form.

And I continued to read to understand how to turn a user into a badass. And to know what that is.
But here I was faced with another disappointment. It wasn't clear what a badass is. The book was telling me about awesome products -- products that aren't awesome themselves but make their users awesome. And which users are awesome? Awesome users are badass users! And what is a badass user? A badass user is a better user. A much better user. A user who has higher resolution. A user who wants to have badass results. And which results are badass? Results that are awesome. And so on and on in circles.
Only on page 77 -- though it was nice that I could get there fast because of the low information density -- on page 77 I learned: "For clarity: let's assume that we talk about users, who do want to be better, but don't want to go all the way to Chuck Norris of X. (Not yet anyway.)". Sigh. It turned out that 'Badass' is not Chuck Norris of X, it just means 'wants to be better'. "Getting from zero to any capability can feel badass." As it wasn't written just several pages before: "That isn't about helping people _feel_ badass. It's about helping them _be_ badass." Suddenly it turned out to be nonsense.

Then the book told about how experts learn: through 'deliberate practice' (training special skills) and 'perceptual exposure' (having instant feedback on what is wrong and what is right). And how to learn (or to teach your users) better by 'removing blocks', staying motivated by 'performance path' (having progress milestones and achieving inspiring results). And finally, we need to reduce cognitive leaks.

So it summed up: to make our users badass = to help them get better (to practice right and get exposure to the right things,) help them keep wanting to focus on what makes them stop and to help them with progress/payoffs and to reduce cognitive leaks.

And one more thing: to be an instant badass you can just hold a "'power pose' - open, expansive, arms wide, think: superman or superwoman stance." It's just that simple...

The last disappointment was that there wasn't any real-life case study, something that you would expect to see in a real book. (What did I expect from comics?) So basically the entire book is nothing more than some non-proven ideas, though I admit that those ideas sound true and may inspire one to be better, to make better products, to care about users, etc. But from a book I would have expected a much more serious and thoughtful presentation of those ideas. Especially from the book people talk so much about.

Still I can't fully understand why the book is so popular and is treated as a 'must read'. Maybe I'm missing something, and maybe it's just the provocative title and uncommon writing style.

Anyway reading it doesn't require much time and gives you an obvious benefit: you will be able to evaluate for yourself a highly rated and frequently cited piece.
And of course, there is always a chance that you will like it....
Profile Image for Yevgeniy Brikman.
Author 4 books650 followers
March 23, 2017
This is one of the best books I've read on product design and development. Actually, it's less of a book and more of a slideshow, with tons of stock photos, diagrams, flow charts, and relatively little text, but the format works, and it conveys the key themes of the book in a clear and memorable way. Those themes are:

* Your goal is not to create a great product, but to create great users. Your product, as well as all the documentation, marketing, and community around it, should be focused on helping the user become a "badass" at something. For example, users don't want to buy a good camera, they want to be great photographers. Badass users are the key to successful products because they help the product spread, both through word of mouth (e.g. I love this camera) and through what they are able to do with the product (e.g. look at this amazing photo I took with this camera).

* That means you need to think about not only the product, but the entire context around it. For example, if your product is a camera, you may also want to offer photography tutorials, books, and classes; put together in-person meetups and online communities where photographers can discuss their craft; offer places for photographers to share their work, including online galleries and real-world exhibitions; and so on.

* This is also how you market the product. You don't show its features. You focus on what the person can do with them. Apple is very aware of this. Their ads for the iPod don't focus on the amount of disk space or sound quality; they just show people dancing and having fun. Their ads for the iPad don't talk about CPU speeds, memory, or touch screens; they just show grandma doing a video call with her grandchild.

* Becoming "badass" can take a long time, and the beginning of that journey is often very unpleasant. For example, when you first start playing the guitar, you sound awful and your fingers hurt; when you first start weightlifting, you're weak and constantly sore. This is called the "suck zone." Many users give up at this stage and never become badass. In part, it's because they don't realize that *everyone* goes through the suck zone, and just assume that they don't have what it takes to be a badass. So one of the keys to a successful product is to clearly, repeatedly, and openly acknowledge that the suck zone is *normal* and *expected*. Find a way to encourage the user to keep going and provide them with the resources they need to get better, so they can get through the suck zone into the badass zone.

* To help users get better, you have to provide them with the right type of practice (deliberate practice). You also have to expose them to a very large quantity of high quality "material". For example, for photographers, you should constantly be showing the user beautiful photos. For weightlifters, you should constantly be showing them examples of great technique. The book discusses research that shows that by looking at a large number of examples, people can learn new skills astonishingly quickly and completely and *unconsciously*. For example, you can learn to identify the sex of baby chickens just by going through a large number of examples with a mentor, and achieve a high rate of accuracy, but you won't be able to consciously explain what you're looking for. Similarly, during WWII, airplane spotters learned to identify airplanes at a great distance just by going through a large number of examples with a mentor, achieving high accuracy in a short time period, despite not being able to verbalize how exactly they were doing it.

In short, if you build products, read this book. It'll make you a badass.




As always, I've saved a few of my favorite quotes:


"It's not about our product, our company, our brand. It's not about how the user feels about us. It's about how the user feels about himself"

"Instead of looking for common attributes across successful products we must look for common attributes across successful users of those products."

"Users don't evangelize to their friends because they like a product, they evangelize to their friends because they like their friends."

"Don't just upgrade your product, upgrade your users."

"Don't make a better camera, make a better photographer."

"They [customers] stop not because of the struggle. They stop because they don't realize the struggle is typical and temporary."

"What's much much worse than a bad user manual? Making the user think the manual works just fine for everyone else."

"There's a world of difference between having choices and having to make a choice."
Profile Image for heidi.
315 reviews59 followers
March 10, 2015
I love Kathy Sierra's writing, but I didn't expect to be so blown away by this book. It was everything she had been trickling out in her blog, but more so, refined and honed into a few key points.

I thought it seemed light and insubstantial, with a lot of pictures and white space. I needed all that white space, and I still ended up putting the book down every 50 or 60 pages so I could digest all the new ways of thinking I was being presented with. It's written for product designers (not just software), but the key concepts could apply to anyone who is trying to win hearts and minds about a concept or idea.

I finished it yesterday on the plane and I've already caught myself quoting it at least twice, and thinking about the context of what I am trying to get users to do, not just the method. It's a really basic, well-duh thing, but explained so clearly that you can see how you've been failing to do it all along.

I can't summarize it anymore than it's already been refined to, so I'll just say: Go get it, and read it.

Read if: You have ever tried to make it easier for someone to do something. If you've ever been frustrated by trying to learn something. If you want to make your practice more valuable.

Skip if: No, really, go read it. It applies to pastors and product managers alike.

Also read: It has a set of books recommended in it, but the one I know out of them is The Design of Everyday Things.
Profile Image for Sebastian Gebski.
1,036 reviews996 followers
June 16, 2015
Go read that book. Seriously. It's badass itself.

Actually it's as much about fitting users' needs as about overall self-development of human being: learning, motivation, improving, focus & many more.
And the best thing is that it's very, very condensed - no bloat, no weaving around, just a strong message (yea, sometimes there's a bit too much of NLP, but it doesn't get that irritating ;>) I totally agree with.

Highly recommended. And make sure you're reading a properly formatted (PDF or mobi on Kindle HDX version).

P.S. There are some great book recommendations in text as well. I can vouch for at least half of them.
Profile Image for Adrian Howard.
52 reviews70 followers
March 1, 2015
Lovely book that synthesises a bunch of stuff on motivation, skills acquisition, flow, etc. into a nice product development framework (and unlike a certain popular science writer I could name references the original sources for those who want to dig further ;-)

As an additional bonus Kathy uses the techniques she describes in the book in a delightfully meta way to structure the book itself.

Totally badass.
Profile Image for Eduardo Xavier.
121 reviews1 follower
September 23, 2020
None of the subjects she addresses are new and despite the negative reviews (some saying it is not a book), I think the Kathy - known for head first series - did a nice job in discussing the consequences and results when we focus on our user taking into account their emotional side rather than functionality of our product. That's so human! :)

Anyway, it is not quite a how-to book, despite the exercises contained in it - I think they provoke learning itself. I don't think applying it on a daily basis is very easy, but the provocation to reduce is something interesting. It shows that when we design, we have a tendency to think the same way, inferring and assuming that the user will behave in a way and it doesn't happen that way.

Very good, excellent UX mindset. For any audience.
Profile Image for Ali Spittel.
Author 1 book217 followers
September 25, 2020
I like the content of this book. I love the idea of making learning paths for users. The other content is valuable too. I *hated* the format. I would have preferred more stories and tangible use cases instead of pictures. I also found it weirdly repetitive.
Profile Image for Olivia Law.
367 reviews18 followers
Read
May 4, 2021
Read this for work, pretty interesting but very simple. I feel like I could have come up with this information myself (though, I didn't so kudos to the writer)!

Bought the book because people raved about it at a conference - really easy to follow and a great way to change your mindset around UX.
Profile Image for Patrik Hallberg.
364 reviews4 followers
September 19, 2015
This is a badass book :) a friend at work recommended it to me!

The formula according to Kathy Sierra =
Improving our chances of making a sustainable bestselling product or service
Make our users badass
Help them actually get better - 1) help them practice right 2) help them get exposure to the right things
Help them keep wanting to - 1) focus on what makes them stop 2) help them with progress + payoffs
Reduce cognitive resource leaks

The rest of my notes reading this book =
Don’t make a better X, make a better User of X
Badass not at the tool, but at what the tool enables
Badass at the bigger context
Post-UX UX
All that matters is what happens when the clicking’s done
Suck -> Stuck -> Badass zone
Simply getting past the suck zone can feel badass
Moving up and to the right
Badass = mastery, expert
you can’t have expertise without expert skills
intermediate blues - getting stuck, an automated skill that MUST change for us to move forward
This is how experts build expertise
a) can’t do , b) can do with effort, c) mastered reliable/automatic
Move from a to b, a to c, b to c and c to b
Experts never stop adding new skills
Experts build skills both consciously and unconsciously
Experts refine existing skills
Experts practice better
Deliberate practice
The single biggest problem for most people on most expertise curves is having too many things on the B board.
Half a skill beats Half assed skills (might exist a minimum viable skills threshold)
Once past the minimum, switch to fine grained sub skills to reliably, consistently, keep getting better.
Help them practice right: design practice exercises that will take a fine grain task from unreliable to 95% reliability within one to three 45-90 minute practice sessions.
If you can’t get to 95% reliability, stop trying.
Deliberate practice is always just beyond our current ability/comfort zone
Experts were around better - they were exposed to high quantity, high quality examples of expertise
Trial and error feedback
Your brain learns things you don't
Perceptual knowledge
Use a high quantity of high quality examples that seem different on the surface, but actually aren't
Good perceptual exposure exercises don't explain. They create a context that lets the learner's brain discover the pattern
Help our users move forward - working on what stops people matters more than working on what entices them
The gap of suck
The gap of disconnect
Before they buy we are all about the context, after they buy we are all about the tool
Acknowledge it some things are just hard
They stop not because of the struggle they stop because they don't realize the struggle is typical and temporary
Anticipate and compensate
Progress and payoffs - pulls them forward
Performance path map a key to motivation and progress
With skills, not just knowledge
It's about the progress
None of that matters if they don't benefit from getting better
Lower the initial threshold for user does something meaningful
Fear can derail them before they start, convince them to be brave
It doesn't need to be practical to be meaningful
Design with a motivating payoff loop
Intrinsically rewarding experiences
High resolution and flow
Communicating with domain specific jargon is both a useful tool and a stimulating reward
Flow - the psychology of optimal experience
Give your users high payoff tips
Zeigarnik effect background process running for unfinished tasks
To reduce cognitive leaks delegate cognitive work to something in the world.
Knowledge for using it must be in the users's head because it's not in the device
Knowledge in the head vs knowledge in the world popularized by Donald Norman in the design of everyday things
The power of affordances - make the right thing to do the most likely thing to do
choices are cognitively expensive
coach.me is a simple, free motivation and goal tracking app
consistent, repeating reminders via MotivAider
The power of habit by Charles Duhigg
Intrinsically rewarding = rewarding to do for its own sake
Drive by Dan pink
Convince the brain with context marketing is about the context manuals are about the tool
Brains prefer just in time over just in case
Map knowledge to skills
Put each topic on trail with why/so what/who cares
Power pose = instant badass
Amy Cuddy's Ted talk (amazing stuff if you haven't watch it you should, around 21 minutes long)
Profile Image for Robert Lewis.
Author 3 books15 followers
September 1, 2019
There's a lot to be said for the premise of this book: if brands design their products (and their marketing, documentation, etc.) with the goal of helping their users, a lot of their marketing will take care of itself. To use one of the examples regularly mentioned in the book, if you make cameras, you should design your product and documentation specifically to help your users be better photographers, and the word of mouth marketing they'll generate will make a better showing in your sales figures than a major media buy. The thesis is mostly pretty sound, and reasonably well-documented with reference to other business or pop psychology books.

However, if you're looking for a deep dive into business psychology, this is not the book for you. In fact, though its premise is solid, its presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of a full-length book, the reader is treated to little snippets of text interspersed with stock photography images. While this makes for a fast and easy read, it doesn't offer a lot of (or any) resources for the reader looking for a well-documented survey of the psychological literature, or even the business literature. Though it's priced as a book, this is essentially a PowerPoint presentation set down in print.

Indeed, some of the pop psychology referenced throughout the book is actually fairly questionable. A brief section on "power posing" provides the quintessential example. Yes, there was some research that certain postures can have positive psychological effects. Later research has called it into question. This book cites the former (or rather, cites the TED Talk describing the former) without any reference at all to the latter. Does this mean the book is wrong? Certainly not. But it does mean that its conclusions should at least be treated with some skepticism since it's not always clear where the book's ideas came from.

However, while particular psychological aspects of the book may be suspect, and the treatment of the entire topic has to be considered superficial at best, the fundamental premise still strikes me as a solid one, and one not enough people are thinking about in the terms suggested by the author. I would recommend it for that reason alone, except its cover price of $34.99 (for what fundamentally amounts to a printed slideshow whose length would probably be a couple of hours) raises some issues of value for money. Buy it when it's on sale (or used or borrow it from the library) and knowing what you're getting, and you probably won't be disappointed.
80 reviews9 followers
June 27, 2015
Whoa! What a refreshing read this was!

I was familiar with some of the ideas after seeing presentations and reading blog posts from the author, but the book packs the whole thing and adds references for where you can get more.

The book argues that instead of focusing on making your product/tool look good, you should focus in making your users look good. So, you want to make your user a badass: an expert in the things that she wants to do (not an expert in your tool/product).

It starts by explaining the science of how people become experts at anything (photography, chess, guitar, programming, whatever), which boils down to practicing right + exposition to lots of good examples. It then explains what exactly means practicing right and how the exposition to good examples works in your brain (hint: your brain learns things from examples and leave you completely unaware of it. It learns from bad examples too, so beware of what you surround yourself with).

This part of the book made me think about why sometimes I have trouble learning something even when trying very hard, because I'm trying to practice too many skills at the same time. And other times when I wasn't trying so hard I'd perceive progress fairly quickly, and that was because I took my time learning small skills once at the time.

There is more to it than just splitting in small skills, but just this section of the book was already worth it.

After that, the book then goes on to teach how you help your users/customers to become badasses, which involve things like: building a performance path (much like martial art belts, so that they know how to progress), reducing cognitive leaks and focusing on removing obstacles instead of adding extrinsical motivations.

Highly recommended for product designers, anyone interested in learning better or in helping others to learn better.
Profile Image for Howard.
76 reviews2 followers
June 14, 2015
The title of this book would have you believe that it is for people writing software - the typical kind of person that has to wonder what their user is thinking and how to make the user behave the way they want. I think this book goes beyond that. This book is for anyone who has a message that they want to get across. If you are a teacher designing a lesson plan, if you are a speaker designing a presentation, or if you are trying to learn a skill yourself: this book is worth your time. The concepts are so simple yet so thoughtful, most anyone could learn what Sierra is teaching you and spend the rest of their life trying to master putting it into practice.

I find it so refreshing that books on usability are typically very usable. This book is no exception. The principals of this book are used throughout the book itself to great effect. It makes you want to finish the book and excited to use what you learned.
Profile Image for Adam.
295 reviews20 followers
October 8, 2016
I'll read anything Kathy Sierra writes. I actually ordered this book when I was out of town, having it delivered to a hotel because I was looking forward to it that much. What I got was a book that inspired me to think differently about how I plan features, UX, and everything else for users.

What stuck with me the most was the concept of putting users into different "buckets" of ability on your product -- beginners, intermediate and advanced. If you aren't moving users up in their abilities on multiple features at once, then people will leave your product. Thinking about things in this perspective was incredibly helpful for me.
Profile Image for Werther Azevedo.
38 reviews1 follower
October 13, 2020
Don’t let this book’s cheesy title fool you. Kathy Sierra takes us on a journey through cognition and learning, using powerful arguments, scientific data and a quick n’ witty writing style, to make the case that our products should focus on making its users better (or badass, as she puts it) on a compelling context that’s meaningful to them.

Even though her method sounds more suitable to digital tools, the central argument of the book (or, as she puts it, her own compelling context) should be useful for anyone who’s building stuff for other people. A nice philosophy overall, and a book that should be consulted every time one starts a new product from scratch.
Profile Image for Camille.
293 reviews58 followers
July 8, 2016
An excellent book for anyone who dreams of being useful to society. what does it mean to be of service, provide a service? is it merely a transaction? is it all just for profit? or do you really want to enrich the lives of others through what you offer? if you want to move beyond just buy and sell to a space where people are improved, delighted and challenged by the things you create and the services you provide, Sierra's book is for you.
70 reviews10 followers
April 16, 2021
Really quite a great book for anyone in product management, UX, design, engineering - basically anyone who problem solves and builds anything made to be used by people. I'm fairly sure Kathy Sierra used the principles in this book to write it because I absolute feel more capable and badass in my ability to think about customer problems and to think about them in the right way that enables *them* rather than me or anything I'm trying to do.

The book is really easy to read even though it touches on a few fairly complex and deep topics (which she recommends further books on). There were a couple of bits and bobs that I didn't quite fully agree with or saw as more niche points but the overall philosophy and "formula" Kathy puts forward is great and something I will come back to again and again I'm sure.
Profile Image for Nabil.
82 reviews8 followers
October 4, 2017
It was a good book, but it's structured more like an extended comic book than a traditional Business book.

TL;DR: Make your users feel superhuman, and they'll tell all their friends about how awesome you are.
Profile Image for Eduards Sizovs.
118 reviews160 followers
April 17, 2019
Badass is an easy-to-read book about customers and how to make them awesome. It's hard to call this work a book, because it's designed as a slide deck.

We can make users badass by:
- helping them actually get better
- helping them practice right
- helping them get exposure to the right things
- helping them keep motivated to grow professionally

It's a good intro to habits, cognitive load and motivation. I recommend this book if you want to remind yourself how to engage users.
Profile Image for Jo.
37 reviews9 followers
February 1, 2017
Wow. Whether you build apps/websites, write content for your company website, customer support or are involved in writing user manuals, this book is full of insights on how to improve on that. Also, if you coach/teach people new skills that require expertise (photography, software development, musical instrument,...) you will take away lots of new insights from this one. It's a fun and fast read with lots of visual aids.

The main message: don't focus on "brand engagement" strategies, instead help your user get better at whatever context the tools/services you provide are embedded in. The rest will follow automagically. How do you help your users get better? By helping them in whatever way you can in becoming badass of course! Think: deliberate practice, minimizing cognitive resource leaks, providing a path to mastery,...

Definitely check this out if you like any of:
* Thinking, Fast and Slow
* Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
* The Design of Everyday Things
* Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
Profile Image for Jeanne Boyarsky.
Author 32 books73 followers
March 9, 2015
When I read a book about software development process, I view it as a successful read if I have a bunch of things to try to make things better. Badass isn't a software process book, but it passes that test with flying colors. I have a page of thoughts. Another test I use for process books is whether I am likely to have different/more ideas if I read it again. I've put on my calendar to read this one again in three months. I can tell now, it will be just as motivational and thought provoking then.

I enjoyed seeing the "Head First" elements including thought bubbles, pictures, graphs, etc. Plus there were cute pictures of chicks! (and yes, they were relevant to the point.) I also liked the "breadcrumbs" at the bottom of each page showing where the page fits into the book. I don't recall having seen that before.

I also liked that the ideas can be applied at many different levels. My "things to try" range from the personal (post its with skills to make better use of practice) to mentoring teammates to helping people better use the apps I support.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review.
Profile Image for Melody.
Author 1 book13 followers
December 30, 2015
It reads like a witty Power Point presentation, and I'm not opposed to that. Easy to flip through; easy to retain the little sound bytes.

Technically, BADASS is about increasing brand retention by consumers. However, it's much more than that. Sierra touches on things like motivation, goal-oriented learning, and the process of becoming an expert. Officially, she's referring to the user. However, I learned a lot about these things for myself and definitely picked up some tidbits I intend to put into practice as I look into a new skill for the new year.

If you are looking for a book about serving (and growing) your customer base, this is a good book. A really good book. Read it.

If you're looking to become badass in your field, this is a great book. You're not going to find any in-depth information, but you're going to touch on several different important things that you'll need in your quest. Sierra throws in plenty of additional resources at every twist and turn, which means that her book is a spectacular starting place.
Profile Image for Rob Weir.
Author 3 books11 followers
March 27, 2015
I really enjoyed “Baddass: Making Users Awesome.” Kathy Sierra here has brought together best practices from a range of disciplines, design, expertise development, word of mouth marketing, human motivation, pedagogy, etc., and created a grand synthesis that shows how to create the kind of “badass” users that make your product shine. Instead of gimmicky approaches based on extrinsic motivations like gamification and viral social media content, Kathy focuses on making the user successful at the larger context, what the user really wants to achieve with your product. I've seen bits and pieces of this before, but never before brought together, along with original ideas, in one place in such a framework. The book is visually attractive and a compelling, engaging read. I feel smarter after reading this and look forward to applying these techniques in my next project. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Jarkko Laine.
697 reviews26 followers
April 27, 2015
If you've read Kathy Sierra's earlier work, you'll know to expect something different from your normal business book. I knew this, but I was still surprised by what I found in Badass. The book is much more like Sierra giving a lecture or PowerPoint presentation than a book — and that's a big part of what makes it special.

The ideas in the book are powerful, and I'm planning to revisit it from time to time as I work on my business. That said, a lot of the content stays at a rather high level, so for more specific topics, you'll have to look at other books (for example some of the books Sierra herself recommends on the pages of Badass).

A good read for business minded people who enjoy the works of people like Jason Fried, David Heinemeir Hanson, or Seth Godin. As a bonus, this is a book I could very well recommend also to people who don't like to read books.
Profile Image for Anatol Seibel.
66 reviews
January 30, 2018
Кейти Сьерра (до этого писавшая исключительно самоучители по Java) предлагает способ отстройки от конкурентов в век перенасыщенности предложения - вместо того, чтобы оставить пользователей один на один с мануалом (к сложному техническому устройству или программе), помогите им достичь успехов в той области, для которой они приобретали этот софт/хард. Обучайте, мотивируйте, устраняйте препятствия и истощение когнитивных способностей. После этого сработает word of mouth (автор вводит более крутое понятие word of obvious) и все будет в шоколаде.

Книга очень круто сверстана и, собственно, служит наглядной иллюстрацией своего основного посыла. "Недостаток" у нее один - в каждой главе есть рекомендация к прочтению еще одной крутой книги, в результате чего и без того огромный список непрочитанных книг прибавляется еще десятком. И парой часов просмотра TED Talks.
Profile Image for Eugene Yokota.
14 reviews20 followers
May 21, 2015
Before even finishing the book, I couldn't stop inserting the mini-facts and inspirations I got from this book in any conversation remotely related to usability, branding, running open source community, etc. I wouldn't say it's "Extreme Programming Explained" good, but this book has changed the way I look at things.

There are parts of the book that doesn't flow as well, etc whatever, and honestly I did skim the latter half partially because I've seen a recorded talk that covered the topic. I probably should go back and read it again at some point. There's a bit of "turns-out"-ness like Gladwell/Freakonomics combined with the fun graphics-heavy format (a la 'Don't Make Me Think!') that there's a danger in accepting the book as a religious text without mentally critiquing it.
Profile Image for Szymon Kulec.
187 reviews107 followers
November 18, 2017
I was expecting more.

This book delivers a great content with a very poor "catchy" structure. When reading it, I felt like I was attending a couching/motivational conference that wants me to want my users to become badass. Slide-like pages, filled with pictures and arrows. Searching for the ultimate strategy for making users awesome with lots of clif-hangers. This is a big "no no" for me.

On the other side, the products' framing they propose looks truly inspirational. Guiding users, delivering deliberate practice, flow, and making THEM awesome, are extremely powerful.

It looks that the book itself wanted me, as a reader, to become awesome. The tooling failed though. 3/5
134 reviews1 follower
June 6, 2015
Some good information in here. Unfortunately the format, which starts off as clever and easy to read, eventually becomes too light and distracting. This makes it too easy to just skim past things.

Others have loved the format, so obviously this is a matter of opinion. And some of the information is worth the effort. But I'm not sure I would again buy a book that is mostly clip art.
Profile Image for Wojtek Erbetowski.
50 reviews18 followers
February 19, 2018
Enjoyed it a lot! This book has its unique style and it seemed to me, it will not carry a lot of value.
Oh, how wrong! I love the model presented here.
It opened my eyes to inefficiencies in my own learning process and made me think about my own cognitive leaks.
47 reviews1 follower
January 28, 2021
A mildly interesting Medium post tortured into a 280 page picture book.

To its credit, this is probably the most entertaining way to deliver its extremely dry subject matter. Also, viewing a product as a skill-building exercise is quite an interesting paradigm, albeit a bit of a forced metaphor.
Profile Image for Petre.
28 reviews9 followers
May 4, 2015
I could not put it down! What a treat!
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