What I do know, however, is that my life is in my own hands, and I have the means to (eventually) control my own destiny. Part of that is going to be running my own company and working for myself. I know I'll work hard and consistently for myself, especially when it's my own well-being on the line. I'll probably push anyone working for me to work hard and consistently, though I hope to not be a jerk about it.
What's slightly troubling me is that I go through phases of productivity, often directly correlated with how happy I am at work. How challenged I am. How invested in a project I am. When I'm working for myself, those three will most likely be 100+%. When I'm not, they vary. Currently, I'm happy to just clock in, clock out, and get paid.
That said, I was thinking about what it would be like to run my own company. How would I treat my workers? How would I treat myself? How would I run the company? While I certainly don't want to be accused of creating a list of empty campaign promises (Hill-creatures, I'm looking at you), I did want to jot down a few thoughts about corporate culture and operations in my as-yet-to-be-created company. A manifesto, if you will:
1. People. Make everyone feel as if the rest of the company exists to support their work (inspired by this). Create the worker abstraction layer that isolates a person's job function from the dozens of support systems that back it up. From your developers to your finance department, make certain that svn commit or pulling up last quarter's sales is about as effortless as breathing. When your 200 employees feel as if they have 199 employees working for them, they'll be much more productive than when they feel as if the whole company and its structure and bureaucracy and red tape is working against them.
2. Expenses. Distinguish between necessary and unnecessary expenses. Distinguish between necessary-but-reasonable and necessary-but-unreasonable expenses. Yes, programmers need certain things to get their job done. You don't need the latest overclocked 1.21 jiga-watts water-cooled oil-submerged roaring behemoth that dims the lights on the city block when you fire up Crysis at full AAA on your 1920x1200 monitor. Free coffee (freshly made, not shit ass pre-packaged crap in a bulk coffee maker that hasn't been cleaned in 4 years..."flavor crystals" was how I heard it described). A so-comfortable-you-barely-want-to-leave-it chair, probably ordered by the developer. Just don't forget to leave it when you need to go to the restroom. A pretty darn good computer. A couple-a monitors. Joel has spoiled us all, hasn't he?
3. Choices. Workers need choices. Choice of work area - office, cube, or open table. Choice of computer setup/operating system. Choice of coffee, tea, or other beverage. Choice of snack food. Choice of technology. The choice to go snooping around a closet. Why are any doors locked in the office?
4. Flexibility. No fucking time clocks. Get some shit (preferably your shit, preferably shit that will help the company) done. I don't care where you do it (see above re: work space). Work from home. Need a break? Take a vacation.
5. Communication. I'll keep you informed (as much as I legally can), if you promise to do the same (see above re: "need a break"). Bored at work? Tell me, we'll find you a new project. Not getting along with someone? Tell me, we'll work it out somehow. Need a break? Tell me, we'll get you on the next flight to a tropical location. Need something else? Let me know, and I'll do what I can (see above re: abstraction layer).
6. Creativity. Everyone's ideas are sacred, from the greenest new hire to the stodgy old COBOL programmer. Sacred doesn't always mean right, or perfect, or bulletproof, or must-be-followed. But sacred does mean that they should be respectfully heard, discussed, and considered on a merit-basis. If they are not, workers will shut down and cease to provide them. A company cannot be run on the ideas of one guy. Bill Gates may have had the idea of a user-friendly operating system, but millions of man-hours later, how many products does Microsoft have? Implement the best ideas, keep the good ideas available, respectfully toss the bad ideas, and make sure everyone knows that their input is valuable. Encourage outside-the-box thinking and ideas.
7. Learning. Employees are free to learn whatever they want, and we'll encourage it. It's a learning organization - the company is learning at its own expense, and employees can learn at our expense too (see above re: expenses). Books? You got it. Training courses? Done. New technologies? Done (see above re: flexibility, creativity).
That's all I can think of (and have time for) now.
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