# articles ## accepting differences [Julie Zhuo](https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/how-to-work-with-engineers-a3163ff1eced) How to Work with Engineers : A Cheat Sheet for Designers [Julie Zhuo](https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/how-to-work-with-designers-6c975dede146) How to Work with Designers : A Cheat Sheet for Engineers and PMs [Julie Zhuo](https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/how-to-work-with-pms-3e852d5eccf5) How to Work with PMs : A Cheat Sheet for Designers [MindTools](https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/Assertiveness.htm) Assertiveness : Working WITH People, Not Against Them ## anti-patterns [Unexpected anti-patterns for engineering leaders | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40525802) [Unexpected Anti-Patterns for Engineering Leaders](https://review.firstround.com/unexpected-anti-patterns-for-engineering-leaders-lessons-from-stripe-uber-carta/) ## bad management [I have to eat during assigned time periods. So I will. : MaliciousCompliance](https://old.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/comments/wqwjv8/i_have_to_eat_during_assigned_time_periods_so_i) - make a list of mandatory things that are NOT good? [US regulator considers stripping Boeing's right to self-inspect planes | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38969466) [US regulator grounds 737 Max 9 until it receives further data from Boeing](https://www.ft.com/content/1588974e-db75-4a02-9aff-deb0b75ed379?shareType=nongift) - BAD MGMT WILL LEAD TO HORRIFIC EXPERIENCES: REGULATION, WOKENESS, AND UNIONS - WOKENESS IS A SICKNESS BECAUSE IT'S NO LONGER CONCERNED WITH THE BOTTOM LINE ['This Has Been Going on for Years': Boeing's Manufacturing Mess | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38979196) ['This Has Been Going on for Years.' Inside Boeing's Manufacturing Mess. - WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/boeing-manufacturing-737-max-alaska-door-plug-spirit-18f7e233) [Gandalf Hudlow](https://iism.org/article/developers-can-t-fix-bad-management-57) (2020) Developers can't fix bad management [Mike Crittenden](https://critter.blog/2021/05/03/death-to-the-word-expert/) (2021) Death to the word “expert” [Lolly Daskal](https://medium.com/s/story/10-dumb-rules-that-make-your-best-people-want-to-quit-8491b446dde5) (2017) Dumb Rules That Make Your Best People Want to Quit TL;DR — Trust employees like the adults they are don't try to make them "quiet quit" - it is legitimately unethical to make their workplace hell so they quit on their own - instead, candidly tell them that they'd do better elsewhere, and that there isn't any real chance of promotion or good pay raises at the company without specific things you wish them to do - that way, they have incentive to act, but also may just leave if they can't rise to the challenge ## conflicts [Why it's impossible to agree on what's allowed | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39313942) [Why it's impossible to agree on what's allowed](https://danluu.com/impossible-agree/) ## employee handbooks [Culture Codes](https://tettra.co/culture-codes/handbooks/) Employee Handbox Examples A collection of company handbooks, employee manuals, and more from real companies. ## four-day work week [Pre-industrial workers had a shorter workweek than today's (1991) | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29050351) [Preindustrial workers worked fewer hours than today's](https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html) [Japan's government plans to encourage 4-day workweek, but experts split | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27575580) [Japan gov't backs 4-day workweek, but experts split - The Mainichi](https://web.archive.org/web/20210619031213/https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210619/p2g/00m/0na/014000c) [4-day workweek boosted workers' productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan says | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27533755) [4-Day Workweek Boosted Workers' Productivity By 40%, Microsoft Japan Says : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-says-4-day-workweek-boosted-workers-productivity-by-40) [More than 60 companies tried a four-day work week and results show why 92% are keeping it | Fox Business](https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/more-than-60-companies-tried-four-day-work-week-results-show-why-92-are-keeping-it) [World's largest four-day work week trial finds few are going back | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34887276) [Four-Day Work Week UK Study Finds Majority of Employers Shifting - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-21/four-day-work-week-uk-study-finds-majority-of-employers-shifting) [Is the 4 Day Work Week a Good Idea?](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/354596/4-day-work-week-good-idea.aspx) [We're moving to a four-day work week at Beacon | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31651423) [Beacon is switching to a four-day work week. Here's why.](https://www.beaconcrm.org/blog/beacon-switching-to-four-day-work-week) [Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39562760) [These companies tried a 4-day workweek. More than a year in, they still love it : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1234271434/4-day-workweek-successful-a-year-later-in-uk) ## great management [Can Great Management Improve Mental Health?](https://news.gallup.com/poll/645770/great-management-improve-mental-health.aspx) ## group harmony [John Allspaw](http://www.kitchensoap.com/2017/03/06/book-suggestion-dialogue-the-art-of-thinking-together/) (2017) Dialogue: The Art Of Thinking Together [Mike Walker](https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/6/team-differentiator-not-tech) Your team's differentiator isn't its tech [Jason Fried](https://m.signalvnoise.com/depend-less-on-each-other-507fe0e23e4b) Depend less on each other [Gregg Caines](http://caines.ca/blog/2013/05/07/a-requiem-for-a-team/) (2013) A Requiem for a Team [Bohm Dialogue](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohm_Dialogue) (also known as Bohmian Dialogue or "Dialogue in the Spirit of David Bohm") is a freely flowing group conversation in which participants attempt to reach a common understanding, experiencing everyone's point of view fully, equally and nonjudgementally.[1] This can lead to new and deeper understanding. The purpose is to solve the communication crises that face society,[2] and indeed the whole of human nature and consciousness. [Dominic Krimmer](https://www.dkrimmer.de/2015/02/01/10-powerful-tips-on-how-to-support-a-team-based-learning-culture/) (2015) 10 powerful tips on how to support a team-based learning culture [Chris Ward](https://blog.codeship.com/distributing-operational-knowledge-across-a-team/) (2017) Distributing Operational Knowledge Across a Team [Seth Godin](https://seths.blog/2016/02/a-manifesto-for-small-teams-doing-important-work/) (2016) A manifesto for small teams doing important work [Cantlin Ashrowan](https://cantl.in/blog/2020/12/11/coherent-and-complex.html) (2020) Coherent and complex > - Collaboration, it turns out, gets harder in proportion to two things: the level of coherence you demand from the output, and the complexity of the processes that create it. > - Collaboration that creates incoherence is easy. You all just do whatever you want. Equally, collaboration on things that are not complex is easy. You can all see whether the log has been chopped or not, there is limited room for debate. > - On the other hand, lets say that instead we first come up with a clear overarching plan for what we’re doing. This makes it much more likely the outcome will be coherent. But the price we pay is having to handle the complexity of the entire challenge all at once. ## hands-off mgmt [How Shopify's anti-meeting, anti-mandatory-office experiment is going : programming](https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/16rair7/how_shopifys_antimeeting_antimandatoryoffice/) [How to boss without being bossy | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38224245) [How to Boss Without Being Bossy - Holy Ghost Stories](https://www.jeffwofford.com/?p=2089) [No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25673275) [No Meetings, No Deadlines, No Full-Time Employees](https://sahillavingia.com/work) ## human creativity [Be careful with that thing, it's a confidential coffee maker | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31168150) [Be careful with that thing, it's a confidential coffee maker - The Old New Thing](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20220426-00/?p=106528) - IF THE ORGANIZATION IS DYSFUNCTIONAL, EXPECT EVERYONE TO IGNORE WHAT YOU SAY ## human defects [All companies are fucked up | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33613862) [All Companies are Fucked Up](https://jonpauluritis.com/articles/all-companies-are-fucked-up/) ## incentives [Jacob Shriar](http://switchandshift.com/13-scary-statistics-on-employee-engagement) 13 Scary Statistics on Employee Engagement ## inspiring everyone [Steve Jobs: Fast boot times saves lives | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37211230) [Folklore.org: Saving Lives](https://www.folklore.org/Saving_Lives.html) [Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23477400) [Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People | Stay SaaSy](https://staysaasy.com/engineering/2020/06/09/Don%27t-Joke.html) [Employees are happier when led by people with deep expertise (2016) | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26591777) [If Your Boss Could Do Your Job, You're More Likely to Be Happy at Work](https://hbr.org/2016/12/if-your-boss-could-do-your-job-youre-more-likely-to-be-happy-at-work) [Patience for after-hours work socializing is wearing thin | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37517844) [5:01 and Done: No One Wants to Schmooze After Work - WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/work-happy-hours-office-culture-4c901cfb) [I Don't Want to Be Like a Family with My Co-Workers | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28255781) ['I Don't Want to Be 'Like a Family' With My Co-Workers'](https://www.thecut.com/article/i-dont-want-to-be-like-a-family-with-my-co-workers.html) ## keeping promises [Flexport is rescinding a bunch of signed offer letters | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37433681) [Ryan Petersen on X: "Flexport is rescinding a bunch of signed offer letters for people who were starting as soon as this Monday. I am deeply sorry to those people who were expecting to join our company and won't be able to at this time. It's messed up. But no way around it, we have had a hiring…" / X](https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/1700092765798048093) - if you don't keep your word, you will be seen as trash - the only way to inspire more morale after blowing your reputation is with better pay, and the workers aren't cheap or loyal after that - a good reputation takes time and effort to build up and only goes so far, but a bad reputation will travel halfway around the globe or become a social media meme if it's bad enough ## leaving the organization [Figure out who's leaving the company: dump, diff, repeat | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39311507) [Figure out who's leaving the company: dump, diff, repeat](https://rachelbythebay.com/w/2024/02/08/ldap/) ## maintaining motivation [Nikola Tore](http://blog.hackerearth.com/employee-wellness-affects-productivity-four-fundamental-pillars) (2017) How employee wellness affects productivity: four fundamental pillars [Drew Falkman](https://moduscreate.com/sometimes-great-employees-leave-and-its-ok/) Sometimes Great Employees Leave and It’s OK [Maura Thomas](https://hbr.org/2017/02/your-teams-time-management-problem-might-be-a-focus-problem) (2017) Your Team’s Time Management Problem Might Be a Focus Problem [Umer Mansoor](https://codeahoy.com/2017/07/26/fix-employee-weaknesses-or-focus-on-their-strengths/) (2017) Fix Employee Weaknesses or Focus on Their Strengths? [Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer](https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins) (2011) The Power of Small Wins making progress in meaningful work Managers can help employees see how their work is contributing. [Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Leaked Stanford Talk | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41263143) [transcripts/Stanford_ECON295⧸CS323_I_2024_I_The_Age_of_AI,_Eric_Schmidt.txt at main · ociubotaru/transcripts](https://github.com/ociubotaru/transcripts/blob/main/Stanford_ECON295%E2%A7%B8CS323_I_2024_I_The_Age_of_AI%2C_Eric_Schmidt.txt) ## managing pay [CEO behind Japan's best-performing stock says his secret is raising salaries | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27178486) [CEO Behind 5,300% Stock Gain Says Secret Is Raising Salaries - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-16/ceo-behind-5-500-stock-gain-says-his-secret-is-raising-salaries) [Spending more on retaining developers reduces the cost of hiring developers | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30668973) [Keeping Developers Will Be the Priority in Great Developer Resignation Next Stage | by Ben "The Hosk" Hosking | Dev Genius](https://blog.devgenius.io/keeping-developers-will-be-the-priority-in-great-developer-resignation-next-stage-9dfcdb6e75a4) [Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26847780) [Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit! - The Mad Ned Memo](https://madned.substack.com/p/thanks-for-the-bonus-i-quit) [Why do companies replace employees instead of giving raises? : cscareerquestions](https://old.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/wjduuv/why_do_companies_replace_employees_instead_of) [Surprised Pikachu face... : ProgrammerHumor](https://old.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/12ojjdc/surprised_pikachu_face/) [The Google incentive mismatch: Problems with promotion-oriented cultures | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261488) [The Google Incentive Mismatch: Problems with Promotion-Oriented Cultures | Warp](https://www.warp.dev/blog/problems-with-promotion-oriented-cultures) [Employers should prioritize retention over hiring, study suggests | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33334957) [Employers should prioritize retention over hiring, study suggests | HR Dive](https://www.hrdive.com/news/employers-may-need-to-prioritize-retention-over-hiring-study-suggests/632540/) [2 in 3 U.S. Adults Say Companies Do a Poor Job on CEO-Employee Pay Gap](https://news.gallup.com/poll/646127/adults-say-companies-poor-job-ceo-employee-pay-gap.aspx) - their issue isn't in the pay, but in the value they believe managers provide - a radical move would be to publicly express EVERYONE'S pay, and make sure the manager's pay is clearly explained on why it is what it is ## network effects [Eric Jorgenson](https://medium.com/evergreen-business-weekly/the-power-of-network-effects-why-they-make-such-valuable-companies-and-how-to-harness-them-5d3fbc3659f8) (2015) The Power of Network Effects: Why they make such Valuable Companies, and how to Harness them ## off-the-clock [Portugal bans bosses texting staff after-hours | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29201307) [Portugal bans bosses texting staff after-hours - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59263300) ## open-floor plan [Amar Singh](https://medium.com/@ummerr/youre-working-in-the-wrong-place-e289036ee01c) (2017) You’re working in the wrong place. (if you’re working in an open office) - THE GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: WOULD YOU PREFER TO HAVE THAT FOR YOURSELF? [Maria Konnikova](https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-open-office-trap) (2014) The Open-Office Trap [Libby Sander](http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180718-open-offices-make-people-talk-less-and-email-more) (2018) Open offices make people talk less and email more [Michelle Venetucci Harvey](https://code.likeagirl.io/a-research-roundup-to-show-that-your-office-layout-is-toxic-and-some-tips-for-making-it-better-8434864b0ab2) (2017) A research roundup to show that your office layout is toxic (and some tips for making it better) ## open office [Itamar Turner-Trauring](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/03/20/open-floor-plan/) (2017) Dear recruiter, “open floor space” is not a job benefit ## promotions [Rejected internal job applicants are twice as likely to quit | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28404703) [Rejected internal applicants twice as likely to quit | Cornell Chronicle](https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/08/rejected-internal-applicants-twice-likely-quit) ## remote work [Remote Work to Wipe Out $800 Billion From Office Values, McKinsey Says](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-12/working-from-home-office-landlords-risk-800-billion-in-losses-mckinsey-says?srnd=premium) [What it's Really Like to Cope with Endless Distractions While Working from Home](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/coding-with-distractions) [The work-from-home future is destroying bosses' brains | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27461970) [The Work-From-Home Future Is Destroying Bosses' Brains](https://ez.substack.com/p/the-work-from-home-future-is-destroying) (2021) The Work-From-Home Future Is Destroying Bosses' Brains a critique of managers and business owners [Mourning loss as a remote team | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30811187) [Mourning loss as a remote team | SoFuckingAgile](https://sofuckingagile.com/blog/mourning-loss-as-a-remote-team) [Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39037589) [Remote Work Doesn't Seem to Affect Productivity, San Francisco Fed Study Finds - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/remote-work-doesn-t-seem-to-affect-productivity-fed-study-finds) [Gregg Caines](http://caines.ca/blog/2014/01/11/in-defence-of-the-office/) (2014) In Defence of the Office :star: [Mike Crittenden](https://critter.blog/2020/10/01/slide-deck-presentations-are-the-worst-way-to-share-knowledge-remotely/) (2020) Slide deck presentations are the worst way to share knowledge remotely [Your remote team is in conflict. What analytical skills do you need to resolve the situation?](https://www.linkedin.com/comm/advice/0/your-remote-team-conflict-what-analytical-skills-cavdc) [CEOs are running companies from afar even as workers return to office | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41261986) [Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret Are Part of Broader Trend of Remote CEOs - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-15/starbucks-victoria-s-secret-are-part-of-broader-trend-of-remote-ceos) ## remote work - return to office [Musk's first email to Twitter staff ends remote work | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33544280) [Elon Musk's First Email to Twitter Staff Ends Work from Home - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-10/musk-s-first-email-to-twitter-staff-ends-remote-work) [The elite's war on remote work has nothing to do with productivity | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37111855) [The Elite's War on Remote Work Has Nothing to Do with Productivity](https://www.okdoomer.io/heres-why-they-want-you-back-at-the-office-so-bad/) [80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37093854) [80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/11/80percent-of-bosses-say-they-regret-earlier-return-to-office-plans.html) [Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37062650) [Opinion | To lure people back from remote working, give them individual offices - The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/09/remote-work-offices-floorplan-privacy/) [The damaging results of mandated return to office | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36500448) [The Damaging Results of The Mandated Return to Office is Worse Than We Thought | Entrepreneur](https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/the-damaging-results-of-the-mandated-return-to-office-is/454043) [Work-From-Home Era Ends for Millions of Americans - WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/work-from-home-era-ends-for-millions-of-americans-8bb75367) [Dell goes back on WFH pledge, forces employees to come back to the office | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35944295) [Dell goes back on WFH pledge, forces employees to come back to the office | TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/news/dell-goes-back-on-wfh-pledge-forces-employees-to-come-back-to-the-office) [Americans have never been so unwilling to relocate for a new job | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35973882) [Americans Have Never Been So Unwilling to Relocate for a New Job - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-16/americans-have-never-been-so-unwilling-to-relocate-for-a-new-job) [Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37739376) [Return to Office Is Bullshit And Everyone Knows It - Dhole Moments](https://soatok.blog/2023/10/02/return-to-office-is-bullshit-and-everyone-knows-it/) [The hidden high cost of return-to-office mandates | Computerworld](https://www.computerworld.com/article/3712843/the-hidden-high-cost-of-return-to-office-mandates.html) [Amy Diehl, Ph.D.: ""Return-to-past" mandates: If …" - Mastodon 🐘](https://mstdn.social/@amydiehl/111819610902078764) [Return-to-office mandates don't help companies make more money, study says - The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/24/return-to-office-mandates-company-performance/) [Companies' hard-line stance on returning to the office is backfiring](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careers/companies-hard-line-stance-on-returning-to-the-office-is-backfiring/ar-BB1hH0pZ) ## smart workers and experience [Ask HN: Strategies for working with engineers that are too smart? | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34350446) [The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech - The Pragmatic Engineer](https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/the-seniority-roller-coaster/) ## workplace culture [John Cutler](https://medium.com/@johnpcutler/company-culture-is-44592c36958c) (2016) company culture is… [Daniel Miessler](https://danielmiessler.com/blog/measuring-quality-culture/) Measuring the Quality of a Culture [Ian Miell](https://zwischenzugs.com/2018/02/24/5-things-i-did-to-change-a-teams-culture/) (2018) Five Things I Did to Change a Team’s Culture :star: [Edouard-Malo HENRY](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moving-from-how-why-company-edouard-malo-henry) Moving from a "how" to a "why" company [Interviewing the Interviewer: Questions to Uncover a Company's True Culture | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41243278) [Interviewing the Interviewer: Questions to Uncover a Company’s True Culture](https://praachi.work/blog/questions-to-ask-in-a-job-interview) # guides ## bad workers [A teenager's guide to avoiding actual work | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27206552) [A Teenager's Guide to Avoiding Actual Work](https://madned.substack.com/p/a-teenagers-guide-to-avoiding-actual) ## feedback - quitting [If Your Co-Workers Are 'Quiet Quitting,' Here's What That Means - WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-your-gen-z-co-workers-are-quiet-quitting-heres-what-that-means-11660260608) ## feedback [Step-by-Step: How to Give and Receive Feedback at Work](https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-give-receive-feedback-work/) [Radical Candor by Kim Scott: Book Summary with Key Insights — Next Level Coaching](https://www.nextlevel.coach/blog/radical-candor-book-summary) [Tim Ottinger](https://www.industriallogic.com/blog/stop-per-person-swimlanes/) (2015) Stop Per-Person Swimlanes in Kanban > People will not work together to complete stories if they each have "their own work" to do. [Tim Ottinger](https://www.industriallogic.com/blog/real-work-workshops/) (2017) Make People Awesome through Real Work [Every company should be owned by its employees | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41065227) [Every company should be owned by its employees](https://www.elysian.press/p/employee-ownership) ## general approach [People prefer friendliness, trustworthiness in teammates over skill competency | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29082060) [Research: People prefer friendliness, trustworthiness in teammates over skill competency | Binghamton News](https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/3318/research-people-prefer-friendliness-trustworthiness-in-teammates-over-skill-competency) ## giving updates [How To Notify Users Without Being Spammy](https://growth.design/case-studies/lifecycle-email-ux) ## inspiring everyone - making people important [Individuals Matter | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29235257) [Individuals matter](https://danluu.com/people-matter/) [Lollipop Moments: An Important Measure of Daily Leadership](https://www.flashpointleadership.com/blog/lollipop-moments-your-measure-of-daily-leadership) ## inspiring everyone [11 Common Barriers to Teamwork and How You Can Overcome Them | Indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/barriers-to-teamwork) [Finishing what you start makes teams more productive and predictable | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32220514) [How finishing what you start makes teams more productive and predictable](https://lucasfcosta.com/2022/07/19/finish-what-you-start.html) [7 Product Team Pitfalls You Should Avoid](https://growth.design/case-studies/product-team-pitfalls) ## mental health [GitHub - dreamingechoes/awesome-mental-health: A curated list of awesome articles, websites and resources about mental health in the software industry.](https://github.com/dreamingechoes/awesome-mental-health) [My Emotions as a CEO | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28809195) [My Emotions as a CEO - Ryan Caldbeck's site](https://ryancaldbeck.co/2021/10/08/my-emotions-as-a-ceo/) ## remote work [To find great remote employees, prioritize candidates with strong writing skills | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25120207) [3 Remote Productivity Hacks We Wish We Knew: Mattermost's Journey](https://youteam.io/blog/3-remote-productivity-hacks-we-wish-we-knew-from-day-one/) [What is a Hybrid Work Culture and How to Make it Successful?](https://www.business.att.com/learn/articles/the-leaders-guide-how-to-make-hybrid-work-successful.html) [How to set junior employees up for success in remote | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31893408) [Micromanagement is not a bad word](https://slite.com/blog/micromanagement-is-not-a-bad-word) [The Future of the Office Has Arrived: It's Hybrid](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/511994/future-office-arrived-hybrid.aspx) [GitHub - Felixjosemon/Awesome-Workstations: A curated list of Awesome WFH computer and desk setups!](https://github.com/Felixjosemon/Awesome-Workstations) [The hidden cost of WFH @ AskWoody](https://www.askwoody.com/2024/the-hidden-cost-of-wfh/) - also you may have to pay taxes in both states [GitHub - edelstone/best-remote: A curated reference about some well-known remote companies.](https://github.com/edelstone/best-remote) ## working with geeks [How to work effectively with engineers | by Jenny Wen | Dropbox Design](https://medium.com/dropbox-design/how-to-work-effectively-with-engineers-19afbcc9f326) [How learned helplessness happens in engineering teams | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29060693) [OKAY | Why the status quo is so hard to change in engineering teams](https://www.okayhq.com/blog/status-quo-is-so-hard-to-change-in-engineering-teams/) [Why senior engineers get nothing done | Swizec Teller](https://swizec.com/blog/why-senior-engineers-get-nothing-done) [What Silicon Valley gets about engineers that traditional companies do not | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25717390) [What Silicon Valley "Gets" about Software Engineers that Traditional Companies Do Not - The Pragmatic Engineer](https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/what-silicon-valley-gets-right-on-software-engineers/) [How to mentor software engineers](https://xdg.me/mentor-engineers) [How to drive away your best engineers | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32211576) [How to drive away your best engineers. | Hulacorn Blog](https://blog.hulacorn.com/2021/09/08/how-to-drive-away-your-best-engineers/) [Staff Engineer Archetypes (2020) | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33112915) [Staff engineer archetypes. | Irrational Exuberance](https://lethain.com/staff-engineer-archetypes/) # text ## bad workers antisocial behavior is inevitable - however, it is only a general rule of 3-10% of the culture, unless existing dysfunction has magnified the culture of the group - managing antisocial behavior, therefore, is a case-by-case basis one of the most powerful mechanisms to manage antisocial behavior is through setting [rules] - however, each rule can become Orwellian when applied to EVERYONE - therefore, only make very specific rules, or change the rules to accommodate everyone's situation ## being a model - being approachable The best Virgin manager is someone who cares about people and who is genuinely interested and wants to bring out the best in them. They will earn their colleagues' loyalty and trust, for a start. But just as important, they will make friends. ## being a model - inspirational stories We aren't in charge : create an environment where other people could have a conversation. Transform your company into an organization that makes stories. Given an authentic story that matches our worldview, we'll believe it. Given the chance to speak up, we'll do just that - loudly and often. ## being a model As you approach your job each day, ask yourself, "Am I worthy in every respect of being imitated? Are all my habits such that I would be glad to see them in my subordinates?" A great man is one sentence. At the end of each day, ask yourself whether you were better today than you were yesterday. Did you learn your ten vocabulary words, make your eight sales calls, eat your five servings of fruits and vegetables, write your four pages? Give ourselves our own performance reviews. Here's how. Figure out your goals - mostly learning goals, but also a few performance goals - and then every month, call yourself to your office and give yourself an appraisal. How are you faring? Where are you falling short? What tools, information, or support might you need to do better? When you're newly promoted to manager, MAKE SURE TO ABDICATE SOME OF YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES - this is especially true for smaller managers and shift supervisors - you rob the employees of [meaning] when you do their work - it's great to be an example, but you'll do better to communicate what you want, then get out of the way and hold them accountable to the results - at the same time, make sure you still do the hard stuff! ## dysfunction [Simple Sabotage Field Manual - How to Destroy Your Organizations | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36831946) [Simple Sabotage Field Manual - How to Destroy Your Organizations](https://historyinvestor.com/p/simple-sabotage-field-manual-destroy-organizations) - examine the reverse viewpoint: how to detect saboteurs [Excerpt from CIA's Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29597454) [OSS Simple Sabotage Manual, Sections 11, 12](http://svn.cacert.org/CAcert/CAcert_Inc/Board/oss/oss_sabotage.html) Having just one bad apple in a small group can drag down performance by up to 40 percent. Great team players change their lifestyle to avoid dysfunctional teams The most dangerous team dysfunction is in "teams" by name only - Managers setting goals as opposed to teams setting personal goals to benefit the group - Team members responsible for only their tasks instead of the team sharing the burden - Manager assigns tasks to individual members instead of the team as a whole unit - Most feedback and discussions are solely between the manager and a team member instead of between the members There are 2 major issues to watch for in censoring bad actors - Bad originators from leaders - This is things like someone making a comment or public expression that doesn't reflect the values of the organization - Bad responses from followers - This is things like comments and smaller discussion that take place IN RESPONSE TO a big statement from a leader ## dysfunction - old tPA #### Not everyone likes working in a great organization They must like others' expectations that they seek accomplishment They have to adapt to the established culture They need to feel proud to be part of that organization They have to take an interest in changing everything about their work They must value clear, open, and honest communication #### Great members of dysfunctional cultures must do one of a few things 1. Work twice as hard through the necessary bureaucracy to come to the important part of the work 2. Ignore and break completely arbitrary rules they fully know nobody checks and nobody cares about 3. Compromise their values and become part of the problem 4. Leave the system and find a better environment ## feedback loops watch for [trends] in the group - if there are any positive feedback loops, you will have NO control to stop them unless you stop the magnifying force - if it's a negative feedback loop, you can't change anything until you force big changes onto the group, so it may or may not be worth that change ## how teams decay Team dysfunction decays through five stages A. Absence of trust - Unwilling to admit mistakes, weaknesses or the need for help - Comes from a refusal to expose any vulnerability to one another B. Fear of conflict - Fear of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate over critical issues - Comes from strong distrust and causes team conflicts through veiled discussions and implicating comments C. Lack of commitment - Unwilling to agree to anything without a conflict - Creates significant ambiguity which disgruntles employees, especially the best employees D. Avoiding accountability - Nobody is held responsible - Unfulfilled promises create an unclear plan of action - Everyone becomes hesitant to call out counterproductive behaviors E. No more focus on results - The group no longer sees a need to achieve - Without accountability, members will naturally place personal interests over the team's needs - Since the group no longer desires success, it inevitably fails Business owners will always have issues with their support staff as long as they don't feel truly fulfilled by their work, no matter what perks the employer gives them. You (the business owner) are working for the person (employee) who asks, "What can you do for me today?" A team full of people resenting the team leader is no team at all. Companies do things. They are tools designed for a particular purpose - or they should be. If they are superseded, or surplus to requirement, we shed them. We try our level best not to shed the people, or the know-how, but the company itself is not something we allow ourselves to get too nostalgic about. You learn very quickly not to skimp on the goodwill gestures. They let people know that, whatever the difficulty, you're still working for them. Young, independently minded businesses can provide customers with great service: it's the monoliths and the business establishment that make customers' lives a misery. [Chantal Gautier](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-teams-fail-chantal-gautier/) (2015) Why do teams fail? ## illusion of the group there's a bad illusion: that people are a "group" - nobody is a "group", and each person is a self-determining individual who may align with others together for a time and for a specific purpose or set of purposes - this means that any action should be the kind of action you'd do to 1 person, then scale it upward ## incentives Craft bonuses for those who work for you to achieve margin, cost, and revenue targets. You won't get far if you attempt to financially "incentivize" the salt of the earth. (The types that just enjoy working hard.) Praise, the ability to discern when a good job has been done, and the courtesy to say so, fairness, integrity, and camraderie should be employed instead. It takes more trouble than mere bribery, but it produces wonderful results. Ways to make more pie: - Make annual bonuses generous - "ring fence" investment costs from ongoing business : investment money for new projects taken out of ongoing business as a real expense - never delegate bonus arrangements. - at senior level, insist on collective responsibility for bonuses - praise excellent work - fire poor workers mercilessly - turn a cold eye to company perks - avoid all "jollies" : trips to Hawaii - set an example : don't waste company money - have senior managers go over annual results with you one-on-one : their comments can be priceless - back up your managers - seek out and promote talent - interview your rivals' talent - discourage secrecy - save a little bit of pie for suppliers - never bad-mouth rivals - sell early (real money rarely comes from horsing around running an asset-laden business if you're an entrepreneur. you're not a manager, remember? whenever the chance comes to sell an asset at the top of its value, do so. things do not keep increasing in value forever. get out while the going is good and move on to the next venture.) - enjoy the business of making money Deliberately employ men and women who are smarter than you - and listen to them. [I built Excel for Uber and they ditched it | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37527720) [No sacred masterpieces - by Matt Basta - Basta's Notes](https://basta.substack.com/p/no-sacred-masterpieces) - track the star players, see what they did, and make sure their contributions are NEVER taken for granted by the time you've gotten to a formalized system, the informal system broke - performance improvement plans are designed for the protection of the organization and management, in the off-chance they get sued (so they can be fired with cause) - therefore, be VERY CLEAR what measurements you're using, and be VERY THOROUGH AND PRECISE recording those measurements Offering to increase pay for teachers if the academic achievement of their students improved had no effect on student performance. Giving teachers the same amount of money at the beginning of the term and telling them they would have to pay back that amount if their students failed to meet a specified target resulted in a significant positive effect on student performance. Children who got the award after having contracted to draw with the markers in order to win it drew with the markers less than half as much as children who got an unanticipated award or no reward at all. The young contractors realized that drawing with the markers was something they did in order to get something they wanted. The other children could only infer that they were drawing with the markers because they wanted to. In short-term thinking, following the rules, rewarding someone who has done it before is a great way to win. Long-term, though, all you've done is taught conformity and punished initiation. You can't optimize your way to surprising growth. Cravings are what drive habits. And figuring out how to spark a craving makes creating a new habit easier. Rewards can deliver a short-term boost - just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off - and, worse, can reduce a person's longer-term motivation to continue the project. People have to earn a living. Salary, contract payments, some benefits, a few perks are what I call "baseline rewards." If someone's baseline rewards aren't adequate or equitable, her focus will be on the unfairness of her situation and the anxiety of her circumstance. You'll get neither the predictability of extrinsic motivation nor the weirdness of intrinsic motivation. You'll get very little motivation at all. But once we're past that threshold, carrots and sticks can achieve precisely the opposite of their intended aims. Mechanisms designed to increase motivation can dampen it. Tactics aimed at boosting creativity can reduce it. Programs to promote good deeds can make them disappear. Meanwhile, instead of restraining negative behavior, rewards and punishments can often set it loose - and give rise to cheating, addiction, and dangerously myopic thinking. A key motivational principle: "Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do." There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign. CARROTS AND STICKS: The Seven Deadly Flaws 1. They can extinguish intrinsic motivation. 2. They can diminish performance. 3. They can crush creativity. 4. They can crowd out good behavior. 5. They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior. 6. They can become addictive. 7. They can foster short-term thinking. Ensure that the baseline rewards - wages, salaries, benefits, and so on - are adequate and fair. Without a healthy baseline, motivation of any sort is difficult and often impossible. Rewards do not undermine people's intrinsic motivation for dull tasks because there is little or no intrinsic motivation to be undermined. For some people, much of what they do all day consists of these routine, not terribly captivating, tasks. In these situations, it's best to try to unleash the positive side of the Sawyer Effect by attempting to turn work into play - to increase the task's variety, to make it more like a game, or to use it to help master other skills. Your best approach is to have already established the conditions of a genuinely motivating environment. The baseline rewards must be sufficient. That is, the team's basic compensation must be adequate and fair - particularly compared with people doing similar work for similar organizations. Your nonprofit must be a congenial place to work. And the people on your team must have autonomy, they must have ample opportunity to pursue mastery, and their daily duties must relate to a larger purpose. If these elements are in place, the best strategy is to provide a sense of urgency and significance - and then get out of the talent's way. In a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) workplace, people don't have schedules. They show up when they want. They don't have to be in the office at a certain time - or any time, for that matter. They just have to get their work done. How they do it, when they do it, and where they do it is up to them. Those who did the best typically spent the most time and effort on the mundane activities. If someone is bored with his current assignment, see if he can train someone else in the skills he's already mastered. Then see if he can take on some aspect of a more experienced team member's work. Get compensation right - and then get it out of sight. Effective organizations compensate people in amounts and in ways that allow individuals to mostly forget about compensation and instead focus on the work itself. The most important aspect of any compensation package is fairness. And here, fairness comes in two varieties - internal and external. Internal fairness means paying people commensurate with their colleagues. External fairness means paying people in line with others doing similar work in similar organizations. Paying great people a little more than the market demands, Akerlof and Yellen found, could attract better talent, reduce turnover, and boost productivity and morale. The pay-more-than-average approach can offer an elegant way to bypass "if-then" rewards, eliminate concerns about unfairness, and help take the issue of money off the table. Providing an employee a high level of base pay does more to boost performance and organizational commitment than an attractive bonus structure. Imagine you're a product manager and your pay is determined by these factors: your sales for the next quarter your sales in the current year the company's revenue and profit in the next two years levels of satisfaction among your customers ideas for new products and evaluations of your coworkers. If you're smart, you'll probably try to sell your product, serve your customers, help your teammates, and, well, do good work. When metrics are varied, they're harder to finagle. In addition, the gain for reaching the metrics shouldn't be too large. When the payoff for reaching targets is modest, rather than massive, it's less likely to narrow people's focus or encourage them to take the low road. People at all levels stop doing any activity that is a waste of their time, the customer's time, or their company's time. Start giving gifts that change people. Reward the achievers. Serve notice to everyone that "this person delivered". People respond to incentives. If you give them more of a reason to do something, they will do more of it, and if you make it easier to do more of something they are already inclined to do, they will also do more of it. ## incentives - old tPA ### Socially engineer your organization Set rules that support or discourage certain large-scale behaviors #### Most organizations correct their course with two methods A. Placing many rules to follow precisely to avoid mistakes - People usually find ways to honor rules while still doing a terrible job - Formalized systems often make potentially devoted members disloyal from a lack of distinguishing other positive qualities (e.g., reprimand for a late delivery without considering the circumstances) B. Giving incentives to make people want great results - People usually find ways to game the system and invalidate the incentive's purpose - Over time, the focus can become distorted into a completely arbitrary set of rules which don't produce results - If you decide not to have incentives, make sure everyone knows precisely why The only long-term cure for lousy performance is a virtue-based culture - Practical wisdom is both the moral skill to learn what the right thing is and the moral will to do it - Wise people know particular instances for when and how the rules don't apply ## incentives - ownership and meaning NOTE: THIS DOVETAILS W/ GIS MEANING, GIS PURPOSE, AND GIS DECISIONS people find meaning when they ACTUALLY own things - if they're told they're making a difference, that can sometimes be offensive (e.g., "you just made the company a lot of money! here's a cheap lunch") [Striking auto workers want a 40% pay increase-the same rate their CEOs' pay grew | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37563231) [Striking UAW auto workers want a 40% pay increase-how much they make now](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/15/striking-uaw-auto-workers-want-a-40percent-pay-increase-how-much-they-make-now.html) - the comment re: worker-owned co-ops instead of corporate-owned - Just to point out a demonstrated, viable, successful reality achieved under different values and assumptions, the Mondragon Corporation/cooperative produces car parts, among many other things, and has pre-agreed ratios for wages for executives relative to the lowest wages paid to workers, and this tops out at 9:1. Studies have found that worker-owned coops have a greater survival rate than conventional businesses, and that they have higher productivity. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation#Wage_regulation NOTE: being a manager is a "people" job [with link to AL], so you can't treat others as if they're "soft functions" Train employees well enough they could get another job, but treat them well enough so they never want to. You'll get 10x better results by elevating good behavior rather than punishing bad behavior, especially in children and animals. Always give credit, take blame. Your group can achieve great things way beyond your means simply by showing people that they are appreciated. Coaching is named after a vehicle that takes one from here to there. If you're leading a change effort, you better start looking for those first two stamps to put on your team's cards. Rather than focusing solely on what's new and different about the change to come, make an effort to remind people what's already been conquered. IDEO: When a team embarks on a new project, team members are filled with hope and optimism. As they start to collect data and observe real people struggling with existing products, they find that new ideas spring forth effortlessly. Then comes the difficult task of integrating all those fresh ideas into a coherent new design. At this "insight" stage, it's easy to get depressed, because insight doesn't always strike immediately. The project often feels like a failure in the middle. But if the team persists through this valley of angst and doubt, it eventually emerges with a growing sense of momentum. Team members begin to test out their new designs, and they realize the improvements they've made, and they keep tweaking the design to make it better. And they come to realize, we've cracked this problem. That's when the team reaches the peak of confidence. Notice what team leaders at IDEO are doing with the peaks-and-valley visual: They are creating the expectation of failure. They are telling team members not to trust that initial flush of good feeling at the beginning of the project, because what comes next is hardship and toil and frustration. Yet, strangely enough, when they deliver this warning, it comes across as optimistic. That's the paradox of the growth mindset. Although it seems to draw attention to failure, and in fact encourages us to seek out failure, it is unflaggingly optimistic. We will struggle, we will fail, we will be knocked down - but throughout, we'll get better, and we'll succeed in the end. The growth mindset, then, is a buffer against defeatism. It reframes failure as a natural part of the change process. And that's critical, because people will persevere only if they perceive falling down as learning rather than as failing. The teams who failed made the mistake of trying to "get it right on the first try" and were motivated by the chance to "perform, to shine, or to execute perfectly." But of course no one "shines" on the first few tries - this mindset set the teams up for failure. By contrast, the successful teams focused on learning. They didn't assume that mastery would come quickly, and they anticipated that they'd face challenges. In the end, they were the ones who were more likely to get it right. Students often didn't do their homework, or they turned in shoddy work. Getting a D or an F was an easy way out in a way. They might get a poor grade, but at least they would be done. In the new system, the students couldn't stop until they'd cleared the bar. "We define up front to the kids what's an A, B, and C," said Howard. "If they do substandard work, the teacher will say, 'Not Yet.'" People have a systematic tendency to ignore the situational forces that shape other people's behavior. He called this deep-rooted tendency the "Fundamental Attribution Error." The error lies in our inclination to attribute people's behavior to the way they are rather than to the situation they are in. Some students received a basic letter announcing the launch of a food drive the following week and asking them to bring canned food to a booth on Tressider Plaza (a well-known spot on campus). Other students received a more detailed letter, which included a map to the precise spot, a request for a can of beans, and a suggestion that they think about a time when they'd ordinarily be near Tressider Plaza so they wouldn't have to go out of their way to get there. Students who received the more detailed letter were substantially more charitable: 42 percent Checklists educate people about what's best, showing them the ironclad right way to do something. (That means that checklists are effective at directing the Rider.) People fear checklists because they see them as dehumanizing - maybe because they associate them with the exhaustive checklists that allow inexperienced teenagers to operate fast-food chains successfully. They think if something is simple enough to be put in a checklist, a monkey can do it. Well, if that's true, grab a pilot's checklist and try your luck with a 747. Checklists simply make big screwups less likely. Shamu didn't learn to jump through a hoop because her trainer was bitching at her. She learned because she had a trainer who was patient and focused and reinforced every step of the journey. Cognitive dissonance works in your favor. People don't like to act in one way and think in another. So once a small step has been taken, and people have begun to act in a new way, it will be increasingly difficult for them to dislike the way they're acting. Similarly, as people begin to act differently, they'll start to think of themselves differently, and as their identity evolves, it will reinforce the new way of doing things. Someone who really devoted himself to work could generate ten or even a hundred times as much wealth as an average employee. A programmer, for example, instead of chugging along maintaining and updating an existing piece of software, could write a whole new piece of software, and with it create a new source of revenue. Companies are not set up to reward people who want to do this. A company that could pay all its employees straightforwardly would be enormously successful. Many employees would work harder if they could get paid for it. More importantly, such a company would attract people who wanted to work especially hard. It would crush its competitors. Unfortunately, companies can't pay everyone like salesmen. Salesmen work alone. Most employees' work is tangled together. Limit the amount of people who have access to the boss. Gatekeepers: no more drop-ins, tidbits, and stray reports. So the boss can see the big picture. So the boss has time and room to think. Because if the boss doesn't, then nobody can. Who ultimately is going to receive the end result brought about by the choice that is made? You must not intervene in others' tasks. Help them in those decisions. Successful entrepreneurs possess perseverance and leadership skills, of course. What is less obvious - and much less boring - is what the speaker neglected to mention: that those traits are likely to be the characteristics of extremely unsuccessful people, too. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct. Giving monkeys raisins as a reward for each correct step in solving a puzzle (such as opening a mechanical latch with several moving parts) actually interferes with the solving, because it distracts the monkeys. They enjoy the task for its own sake. When money is used as an external reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity. Human beings have an inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capacities, to explore, and to learn. But this third drive was more fragile than the other two; it needed the right environment to survive. One who is interested in developing and enhancing intrinsic motivation in children, employees, students, etc., should not concentrate on external-control systems such as monetary rewards. For too long, there's been a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. The Motivation 2.0 operating system has endured for a very long time. Indeed, it is so deeply embedded in our lives that most of us scarcely recognize that it exists. For as long as any of us can remember, we've configured our organizations and constructed our lives around its bedrock assumption: The way to improve performance, increase productivity, and encourage excellence is to reward the good and punish the bad. People in the open-source movement haven't taken vows of poverty. For many, participation in these projects can burnish their reputations and sharpen their skills, which can enhance their earning power. Lakhani and Wolf uncovered a range of motives, but they found that enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation, namely how creative a person feels when working on the project, is the strongest and most pervasive driver. The fun of mastering the challenge of a given software problem and the desire to give a gift to the programmer community. Muhammad Yunus has begun creating what he calls "social businesses." These are companies that raise capital, develop products, and sell them in an open market but do so in the service of a larger social mission - or as he puts it, "with the profit-maximization principle replaced by the social-benefit principle." "For benefit" organizations, B corporations, and low-profit limited-liability corporations all recast the goals of the traditional business enterprise. Economics isn't the study of money. It is the study of behavior. In the course of a day, each of us was constantly figuring the cost and benefits of our actions and then deciding how to act. Economists studied what people did, rather than what we said. An algorithmic task is one in which you follow a set of established instructions down a single pathway to one conclusion. That is, there's an algorithm for solving it. A heuristic task is the opposite. Precisely because no algorithm exists for it, you have to experiment with possibilities and devise a novel solution. People are much more likely to report having "optimal experiences" on the job than during leisure. Vocation Vacations. This is a business in which people pay their hard-earned money to work at another job. They use their vacation time to test-drive being a chef, running a bike shop, or operating an animal shelter. America alone now has more than 18 million of what the U.S. Census Bureau calls "non-employer businesses" - businesses without any paid employees. Only contingent rewards - if you do this, then you'll get that - had the negative effect. Why? "If-then" rewards require people to forfeit some of their autonomy. Rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus. That's helpful when there's a clear path to a solution. They help us stare ahead and race faster. The less evidence of extrinsic motivation during art school, the more success in professional art both several years after graduation and nearly twenty years later. Painters and sculptors who were intrinsically motivated, those for whom the joy of discovery and the challenge of creation were their own rewards, were able to weather the tough times - and the lack of remuneration and recognition - that inevitably accompany artistic careers. Those artists who pursued their painting and sculpture more for the pleasure of the activity itself than for extrinsic rewards have produced art that has been socially recognized as superior. It is those who are least motivated to pursue extrinsic rewards who eventually receive them. Goals that people set for themselves and that are devoted to attaining mastery are usually healthy. But goals imposed by others - sales targets, quarterly returns, standardized test scores, and so on - can sometimes have dangerous side effects. Like all extrinsic motivators, goals narrow our focus. That's one reason they can be effective; they concentrate the mind. But as we've seen, a narrowed focus exacts a cost. For complex or conceptual tasks, offering a reward can blinker the wide-ranging thinking necessary to come up with an innovative solution. Likewise, when an extrinsic goal is paramount - particularly a short-term, measurable one whose achievement delivers a big payoff - its presence can restrict our view of the broader dimensions of our behavior. The problem with making an extrinsic reward the only destination that matters is that some people will choose the quickest route there, even if it means taking the low road. By offering a reward, a principal signals to the agent that the task is undesirable. In environments where extrinsic rewards are most salient, many people work only to the point that triggers the reward - and no further. When the artists considered their commissions "enabling" - that is, the commission enabled the artist to do something interesting or exciting - the creativity ranking of what they produced shot back up. The same was true for commissions the artists felt provided them with useful information and feedback about their ability. Any extrinsic reward should be unexpected and offered only after the task is complete. Holding out a prize at the beginning of a project - and offering it as a contingency - will inevitably focus people's attention on obtaining the reward rather than on attacking the problem. Deci and Ryan have fashioned what they call self-determination theory. We have three innate psychological needs - competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When those needs are satisfied, we're motivated, productive, and happy. When they're thwarted, our motivation, productivity, and happiness plummet. When people use rewards to motivate, that's when they're most demotivating. Instead, Deci and Ryan say we should focus our efforts on creating environments for our innate psychological needs to flourish. Hundreds of research papers point to the same conclusion. Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives. The Type B person may also have a considerable amount of drive, but its character is such that it seems to steady him, give confidence and security to him, rather than to goad, irritate, and infuriate, as with the Type A man. Taking an interest in work is as natural as play or rest, that creativity and ingenuity were widely distributed in the population, and that under the proper conditions, people will accept, and even seek, responsibility. Intrinsically motivated people usually achieve more than their reward-seeking counterparts. Alas, that's not always true in the short term. An intense focus on extrinsic rewards can indeed deliver fast results. The trouble is, this approach is difficult to sustain. And it doesn't assist in mastery - which is the source of achievement over the long haul. The most successful people, the evidence shows, often aren't directly pursuing conventional notions of success. They're working hard and persisting through difficulties because of their internal desire to control their lives, learn about their world, and accomplish something that endures. People oriented toward autonomy and intrinsic motivation have higher self-esteem, better interpersonal relationships, and greater general well-being than those who are extrinsically motivated. By contrast, people whose core aspirations are Type X validations such as money, fame, or beauty tend to have poorer psychological health. Type I behavior depends on three nutrients: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Type I behavior is self-directed. It is devoted to becoming better and better at something that matters. And it connects that quest for excellence to a larger purpose. People still had specific goals they had to reach - for example, completing a project by a certain time or ringing up a particular number of sales. And if they needed help, the manager was there to assist. But he decided against tying those goals to compensation. "That creates a culture that says it's all about the money and not enough about the work." Money, he believes, is only "a threshold motivator." The idea of management (that is, management of people rather than management of, say, supply chains) is built on certain assumptions about the basic natures of those being managed. It presumes that to take action or move forward, we need a prod - that absent a reward or punishment, we'd remain happily and inertly in place. It also presumes that once people do get moving, they need direction - that without a firm and reliable guide, they'd wander. But is that really our fundamental nature? Or, to use yet another computer metaphor, is that our "default setting"? When we enter the world, are we wired to be passive and inert? Or are we wired to be active and engaged? Perhaps management is one of the forces that's switching our default setting and producing that state. Resist the temptation to control people - and instead do everything we can to reawaken their deep-seated sense of autonomy. Autonomy, as they see it, is different from independence. It's not the rugged, go-it-alone, rely-on-nobody individualism of the American cowboy. It means acting with choice - which means we can be both autonomous and happily interdependent with others. And while the idea of independence has national and political reverberations, autonomy appears to be a human concept rather than a western one. A sense of autonomy has a powerful effect on individual performance and attitude. According to a cluster of recent behavioral science studies, autonomous motivation promotes greater conceptual understanding, better grades, enhanced persistence at school and in sporting activities, higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological well-being. Researchers at Cornell University studied 320 small businesses, half of which granted workers autonomy, the other half relying on top-down direction. The businesses that offered autonomy grew at four times the rate of the control-oriented firms and had one-third the turnover. "As an entrepreneur, I'm blessed with 100% autonomy over task, time, technique and team. Here's the thing: If I maintain that autonomy, I fail. I fail to ship. I fail to excel. I fail to focus. I inevitably end up either with no product or a product the market rejects. The art of the art is picking your limits. That's the autonomy I most cherish. The freedom to pick my boundaries." - SETH GODIN Homeshoring: Instead of requiring customer service reps to report to a single large call center, they're routing the calls to the employees' homes. This cuts commuting time for staff, removes them from physical monitoring, and provides far greater autonomy over how they do their jobs. (JetBlue) Human history has always moved in the direction of greater freedom. And there's a reason for that - because it's in our nature to push for it. Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters. "Throughout my athletics career, the overall goal was always to be a better athlete than I was at that moment - whether next week, next month or next year. The improvement was the goal. The medal was simply the ultimate reward for achieving that goal." SEBASTIAN COE Middle-distance runner and two-time Olympic gold medal winner In flow, the relationship between what a person had to do and what he could do was perfect. The challenge wasn't too easy. Nor was it too difficult. It was a notch or two beyond his current abilities, which stretched the body and mind in a way that made the effort itself the most delicious reward. That balance produced a degree of focus and satisfaction. Instead of meeting with their charges for once-a-year performance reviews, managers sat down with employees one-on-one six times a year, often for as long as ninety minutes, to discuss their level of engagement and path toward mastery. Jenova Chen, a young game designer who, in 2006, wrote his MFA thesis on Csikszentmihalyi's theory. Chen believed that video games held the promise to deliver quintessential flow experiences. While most games require players to proceed through a fixed and predetermined series of skill levels, Chen's allows them to advance and explore any way they desire. And unlike games in which failure ends the session, in Chen's game failure merely pushes the player to a level better matched to her ability. Chen calls his game flOw. If people are conscious of what puts them in flow, they'll have a clearer idea of what they should devote the time and dedication to master. Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. Mastery is an asymptote. Why reach for something you can never fully attain? But it's also a source of allure. Why not reach for it? The joy is in the pursuit more than the realization. In the end, mastery attracts precisely because mastery eludes. Pursue purpose - and use profit as the catalyst rather than the objective. Imagine an organization, for example, that believes in affirmative action - one that wants to make the world a better place by creating a more diverse workforce. By reducing ethics to a checklist, suddenly affirmative action is just a bunch of requirements that the organization must meet to show that it isn't discriminating. Now the organization isn't focused on affirmatively pursuing diversity but rather on making sure that all the boxes are checked off to show that what it did is OK (and so it won't get sued). Before, its workers had an intrinsic motivation to do the right thing, but now they have an extrinsic motivation to make sure that the company doesn't get sued or fined. They're busy making money and attending to themselves and that means that there's less room in their lives for love and attention and caring and empathy and the things that truly count," Ryan added. And if the broad contours of these findings are true for individuals, why shouldn't they also be true for organizations - which, of course, are collections of individuals? A healthy society - and healthy business organizations - begins with purpose and considers profit a way to move toward that end or a happy by-product of its attainment. Collins suggests four basic practices for creating a culture where self-motivation can flourish: 1. Lead with questions, not answers 2. Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion 3. Conduct autopsies, without blame 4. Build 'red flag' mechanisms In other words, make it easy for employees and customers to speak up when they identify a problem. More Info: Collins's website: jimcollins.com Mark Vidler, Go Home Productions: "You don't need a distributor, because your distribution is the internet. You don't need a record label, because it's your bedroom. You don't need a recording studio, because that's your computer. You do it all yourself." Even small option grants seem to instill a sense of ownership, and we know that owners are, in general, more likely to take good care of their property than renters are. Far more important than stock options would be the elimination of rigid managerial hierarchies and the wider distribution of real decision-making power. The more responsibilty people have for their own environments the more engaged they will be. Allowing people to make decisions about their own working conditions makes a material difference in how they perform. "Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." - Franklin D. Roosevelt A big company is like a giant galley driven by a thousand rowers. Two things keep the speed of the galley down. One is that individual rowers don't see any result from working harder. The other is that, in a group of a thousand people, the average rower is likely to be pretty average. If you took ten people at random out of the big galley and put them in a boat by themselves, they could probably go faster. When you take the ten best rowers out of the big galley and put them in a boat together. They will have all the extra motivation that comes from being in a small group. But more importantly, by selecting that small a group you can get the best rowers. Each one will be in the top 1%. It's a much better deal for them to average their work together with a small group of their peers than to average it with everyone. That's the real point of startups. Ideally, you are getting together with a group of other people who also want to work a lot harder, and get paid a lot more, than they would in a big company. If your team is filled with people who work for the company, you'll soon be defeated by tribes of people who work for a cause. It's the bridges between people that generate value. The time their employees spend with customers (and the loyalty and enthusiasm it generates) creates more value than does the machine in the factory. ## maintaining motivation people are effectively not interested in fixing problems that aren't theirs (e.g., bystander effect) they DO, however, care about things that disrupt their flow of habits therefore, to get them to care about a problem they don't care about, make it their problem as well ## remote work Remote work has pros: - No rent for office building - Can recruit a more diverse workforce Remote work has cons: - Harder to get everyone on the same page (e.g., conflicts) - Harder time maintaining morale (they're essentially alone over there MUST MAKE SURE TO HAVE EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO) remote work is very sticky It makes sense if there's no good culture to preserve Tribalknowledge, human interaction etc Weaker relationships, such as virtual ones, buckle more quickly under the strain of cultural misundertstandings, and collapse much sooner when the going gets tough. Pursue opportunities for virtual interacting: - hold more virtual meetings that everyone attends - make sure people identify themselves when they talk on a conference call - use video-conferencing - encourage team members to contact each other by phone, not email. - create a website where you post pictures and personal information about team members the ONLY way to make work-from-home work is to commmunicate in as low-context a style as possible - this means there's very little room for propriety or politeness - the natural consequences of this, as well, are that teams will never be as durable long-term, meaning turnover (and training/hiring costs) go up ## worker productivity and happiness [U.S. workers have gotten less productive - no one is sure why | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33405389) [U.S. workers have gotten way less productive. No one is sure why. - The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/31/productivity-down-employers-worried-recession/) - the first comment is VERY insightful: systems with computers are often too rigid Google takes to heart the power of exploration. For 20 percent of their time, employees may go where their mind asks them to go. The proof is in the bottom line: fully 50 percent of new products, including Gmail and Google News, came from "20 percent time." - give time into long projects for people to mess around and play Sucking the meaning out of work is surprisingly easy. If you're a manager who really wants to demotivate your employees, destroy their work in front of their eyes. Or, if you want to be a little subtler about it, just ignore them and their efforts. On the other hand, if you want to motivate people working with you and for you, it would be useful to pay attention to them, their effort, and the fruits of their labor. The personal loyalty that Perot commanded by taking a direct interest in his employees' lives. ## workplace culture In an ideal business environment, everybody should have a rough idea of what everyone else is going through. People should be free to talk. Banter is essential. Put people together in a way that will have them bouncing ideas off each other, befriending each other, and taking care of each other. We try as far as we can to make people feel as if they are working for their own company. Our more senior people have share stakes or options in the companies they run. Someone described Virgin as an 'unprofessional professional organisation', which for my money is just about the best backhanded compliment anyone in business could ever receive. We run our companies professionally and we make sure that everyone does their job to the highest standards. But the way we make sure is to see that people are having fun. Fun is not about acting stupid. It's the feeling you get when you're on top of things. We try to make sure that the people who come into contact with a Virgin business end up with a smile on their face (not always easy). It's about turning what excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward with it. I think entrepreneurship is our natural state - a big adult word that probably boils down to something much more obvious like 'playfulness'. Inspire your people to think like entrepreneurs, and whatever you do, treat them like adults. The hardest taskmaster of all is a person's own conscience, so the more responsibility you give people, the better they will work for you. The more you free your people to think for themselves, the more they can help you. You don't have to do this all on your own. We didn't need cross-holdings, or strong family structures: we had a flag. The bonding power of the Virgin brand has permitted us to take the bold decision to give everyone the opportunity to be entrepreneurs in their own right. It is a flag to which all members of our extended family pay due respect. They enjoy the advantages of doing business under the Virgin umbrella, and in return they agree to protect the integrity of the brand. If they don't, then we can legally withdraw the name. Everybody fights for their own particular Virgin company - and shares in the upside when things go well. I now have a team of people who meet once a week to go through every Virgin company, looking at figures, projections and income. They have a list of priorities, and a list of new projects. They make sure that the Virgin Group is running efficiently. This frees me up to dive in and out when necessary. Jack Welch encouraged managers to start each day as if it was the first day in the job. He said that managers were often afraid of change - and they must embrace it. Success turns not on being the low-price leader but on being the high-trust leader. What matters now: Trust Permission Remarkability Leadership Stories that spread Humanity: connection, compassion, and humility And here's the thing: All six of these are the result of successful work by artists. Leadership puts the leader on the line. If you ask someone for the rule book on how to lead, you're secretly wishing to be a manager. Leaders are vulnerable, not controlling, and they are taking us to a new place. We seek out human originality and caring. What we are drawn to is the vulnerability and transparency that bring us together. Our revolution is turning most business into show business. when they move from task to show, they are adding far more value than ever before. Connection requires emotional labor: a little more emotional labor is often worth a lot. The race to the bottom is lower prices, find cheaper labor. The other race is the race to the top, the opportunity to be the one they can't live without. Delivering more for more. It's not what you've got; it's how brave you're prepared to be. [Mike Crittenden](https://critter.blog/2021/02/19/be-a-better-coworker/) (2021) Be a better coworker > Organization. Don't lose crap, ever. Passwords, dates, files, emails, notes, links, whatever. > Responsiveness. Be easy to reach and quick to respond (but protect your focused deep work time). > Reliability. If you said you'll do it, then freaking do it, no matter how tiny it is. People notice. > Warmth. Maybe you can't be funny or charming, but you can be warm. ## workplace culture - building camaraderie Something that must be written into every business plan: This company will have lots and lots of parties and social get-togethers. Parties are a way of galvanising teams and allowing people to let their hair down. They have to be inclusive and encouraging, and then they are an excellent way of bringing everyone together and forging a great business culture. ## workplace culture - curating habits Notice how many times people have tweaked the environment to shape your behavior. Example: Robby and Kent who frequently arrive late and then sit in the back of the room: Shape the Path. 1. Tweak the environment. Lock the door when the bell rings so latecomers are stuck in the hallway. 2. Build habits. Start having a daily quiz with one or two quick questions at the beginning of every class. If Robby and Kent aren't present to take the quiz, they'll fail. 3. Rally the herd. Post a class "on-time" record on the wall. Maybe when Robby and Kent see that they're the only students violating the social norm to be on time, they'll change their ways. 4. Build habits. Set a policy that the last student in his or her seat every day will be asked to answer the first question. 5. Rally the herd. Find a way to let Robby and Kent know that the other students dislike what they're doing (as they almost certainly do). Often troublemakers have the illusion that their defiant behavior makes them folk heroes. They can be deflated quickly by frank peer feedback. 6. Tweak the environment. Do what Bart Millar actually did: He bought a used couch and put it right at the front of the classroom. It was immediately obvious that this couch was the cool place to sit - students could slouch and relax instead of sitting at a dorky desk. Suddenly Robby and Kent started getting to class early every day so they could "get a good seat." They were volunteering to sit at the front of the classroom. Genius. Leaders had to reshape the Path consciously. With some simple tweaks to the environment, suddenly the right behaviors emerged. It wasn't the people who changed; it was the situation. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. Design an environment in which undesired behaviors are made not only harder but impossible. HADDON MATRIX: In trying to minimize the risk of bad outcomes, injury-prevention experts often turn to the Haddon Matrix, a simple framework that provides a way to think systematically about accidents by highlighting three key periods of time: pre-event, event, and post-event. Rackspace example: When the call-queuing system was thrown out, the customer-service staffers quickly developed the habit of answering the phone. Action triggers can have a profound power to motivate people to do the things they know they need to do. Peter Gollwitzer argues that the value of action triggers resides in the fact that we are preloading a decision. Dropping off Anna at school triggers the next action, going to the gym. There's no cycle of conscious deliberation. By preloading the decision, we conserve the Rider's self-control. When people predecide, they "pass the control of their behavior on to the environment." Gollwitzer says that action triggers "protect goals from tempting distractions, bad habits, or competing goals." Habits are behavioral autopilot, and that's why they're such a critical tool for leaders. Leaders who can instill habits that reinforce their teams' goals are essentially making progress for free. They've changed behavior in a way that doesn't draw down the Rider's reserves of self-control. Habits will form inevitably, whether they're formed intentionally or not. You've probably created lots of team habits unwittingly. If your staff meetings always start out with genial small talk, then you've created a habit. You've designed your meeting autopilot to yield a few minutes of warm-up small talk. The hard question for a leader is not how to form habits but which habits to encourage. A good change leader never thinks, "Why are these people acting so badly? They must be bad people." A change leader thinks, "How can I set up a situation that brings out the good in these people?" A self-disciplined employee will have the patience to conduct routine business routinely, the talent to respond exceptionally to exceptional circumstances, and the wisdom to know the difference. Delivery is never rocket science. When we move from sector to sector, I'd say about 90 per cent of our core delivery strategy comes with us and slots straight in, without adjustment, without fuss, without trouble. Getting to grips with an unfamiliar infrastructure is simply a question of workload - of mastering detail. The team had a real sense of autonomy. I didn't need to be involved day-to-day, but I was sent regular information and figures, which I looked at each night. From the off, the business acted like a listed company - and that's how all start-ups should try to behave. Engage your emotions at work. Your instincts and emotions are there to help you. They are there to make things easier. For me, business is a 'gut feeling', and if it ever ceased to be so, I think I would give it up tomorrow. By 'gut feeling', I mean that I believe I've developed a natural aptitude, tempered by huge amounts of experience, that tends to point me in the right direction. ## workplace culture - responsibility culture GROUP: "That's not my problem" is possibly the worst thing people can think. Silent disengagement, the consequence of specialized technicians sticking narrowly to their domains. We need them to see their job not just as performing their isolated set of tasks well but also as helping the group get the best possible results. People who don't know one another's names don't work together nearly as well as those who do. When you're always online you're always distracted. So the always online organization is the always unproductive organization. Asymmetric paternalism. That's a fancy name for a simple idea: creating policies and incentives that help people triumph over their irrational impulses and make better, more prudent decisions. What happens on weekends and nights directly affects a person's perfomance during the workday. The person with a constructive office-job life nearly always is more successful than the person who lives in a dull dreary home situation. As the leader, you ultimately have 100 percent responsibility for everything. When a widget rolls off the line with a broken thingamajig, it's not the fault of the guy who was texting instead of quality-controlling. It's your fault. When a customer is mistreated at a store halfway across the country, don't blame the customer service agent with a bad attitude. You're to blame. Everyone hates bosses. Don't be a boss. And managers are wienies. Don't be a manager. Become a Twenty-First Century Leader. As the leader, you set the pace. You create the standards. This string is like an army. Push it from behind, and it doubles up on itself - you get nowhere. To drive it forward you have to pull it from the front, and it will follow you in perfect order." Leadership lesson in preschool, where we learned to walk in a straight line. She walked in front, leading the way, and at every turn she called to us: "Follow me!" Leadership in the twenty-first century is less about the words that come out of you and more about what exists within you.