Thoughts on: "Why our startup has no bosses, no office, and a four-day work week"
What follows are my thoughts on the following article: Why our startup has no bosses, no office, and a four-day work week
I'm the CTO/co-Founder of SwiftLaunch and we've been only at it for a short while. I've worked at bigger companies in the past like IBM and SAP so I understand what sorts of bureaucracy engineers face. I'm always interested in how to ensure everyone is happy and productive the workplace.
Having no bosses works really well when everyone is involved or understands the money making aspects of the business. So that they can pick the tasks that will help generate more customers. If they're not customer aware or want to be detached from that then they need a customer aware manager (tech or non tech knowledgeable) to pick and prioritize the tasks. Again this ties in with the last point that those that are hired should want to be aware and involved with the customer generation.
Having no office is the new reality of our globalized era of computing. We've had employees from all around the world that are extremely talented that we wouldn't have been able to have otherwise. There is something to be said about the productivity gains from working side by side with someone but it's just not realistic, especially for a startup. Creating processes that help employees get stuff done efficiently from wherever they are is the standard to aim for.
At the beginning of our startup we were working 7 days a week at 14-18 hours per day. We loved it. There was tons of work to do and we really enjoyed doing the work. It was fresh, exciting and adrenaline fuelled. The goal of a startup is to instil the same enthusiasm in the work that the founders have and also to structure the work so that it never feels like a slog.
The key is to not mandate a number day work week at all. It's to find employees that are time efficient and make their own schedule. It's better than mandating how many hours everyone should work. To pay them you either pay per project or give them a salary. What my friend who works in government had to say about it:
"It really reduces stress. When people are working on the computer, the idea of making them work specific hours is just holding on to the past where you had to work in an office."
Meetings above 7 people are ludicrous I agree but no meetings at all is weird to me too. It's a great way to make employees feel a part of the team and the decision making process. Thirty minutes once a week is practical. Four hours everyday is unnecessary. Having them opt-in is a boon. too.
The no email thing is weird too. What makes email great is that it's so universal. For us we have so many different types of people that we deal with internally and externally that getting everyone on the same chat platform isn't possible. I run around 8 different chat clients just so that I can communicate effectively with everyone.
Email as a task organizer isn't very efficient and a system like trello works quite well for achieving the 'pull' type of tasking that Cristian Rennella talks about.
This last point is probably the most valuable. Being picky with who you hire and making sure they fit correctly with your methodology. If you have a flow within your workplace such as the one Cristian talks about and then you hire someone who wants to be removed from the customer process and is happier when they're told what tasks need to be done next then they won't be used to the most effect of their skills. They'll likely become disgruntled and toxic.
I'd like to add one last tip onto list:
Sometimes an employee is not a good fit. Sometimes they become disgruntled. Sometimes they become toxic to the morale of others. The end result is that they're not producing at the expected level and bringing everyone else down. The longer you keep them the longer it will take your company to recover.
This isn't a personality issue. They were once a good fit perhaps but not anymore.
Give them warnings when they're not completing their tasks or completing them poorly. Document the incidents. Communicate your standards. Hear them out. Everyone goes through rough patches but if it's not a one off incident and has been going on for more than a month don't hesitate to fire.
My recommendation is to take all business advice with scepticism. What works for one business might not work for yours. There's a lot of factors in creating a business that will influence what's right for your business. Your environment, the talent that you're able to acquire, and especially your market and customers. These all will influence what kind of workplace structure, policies, processes, and dynamics that are best for you.
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