6. Thursday, November 3, 2011
I used to spend my days in a place that looked like this.
He must have been some kind of monster, to do that;
to design a system that most efficiently crammed humans into
offices.
7. Thursday, November 3, 2011
Quite the contrary, he worked at Herman Miller.
Back then it the Open Bullpen office was popular.
This is the Action Office.
8. Thursday, November 3, 2011
So what happened to turn Propst’s ideas into this?
Three things:
* Economic way to pack people into offices
* Depreciation laws
* Optimizing for money
9. “Lots of businesses are run by
crass people who create
hellholes. They make little bitty
cubicles and stuff people in
them. Barren, rat-hole places.”
– Robert Propst
Thursday, November 3, 2011
In fact, in his later years, Propst himself denounced what he had
inadvertently created.
11. What can we
do about it?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
12. Motivations
Cost Happiness
Quality Control
Speed Agility
Efficiency Impact
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Here are a few things that motivate decisions.
13. Motivations
Cost Happiness
Quality Revenge
Speed Agility
Efficiency Growth
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Of these, cost and happiness are the most interesting to
me.
Often at odds, but why?
14. Investing in
Humans
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Investing in business decisions is generally well
understood.
But when it comes to humans, a lot of traditional
knowledge is wrong.
15. HARRY HARLOW
Thursday, November 3, 2011
This is Harry Harlow.
He’s was a professor at the University of Wisconsin.
1949 did primate research with puzzles.
Uncovered intrinsic motivation.
16. EDWARD DECI
Thursday, November 3, 2011
This is Edward Deci.
He’s a professor at the University of Rochester.
1969 Picked up Harlow’s research.
17. Extrinsic vs Intrinsic
Motivators
Thursday, November 3, 2011
He’s done a lot of research on extrinsic vs intrinsic
motivators.
Soma puzzles.
Extrinsic means rewards for work you do.
Intrinsic means being rewarded by the work itself.
18. Optimize for
Happiness
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Ever since we started GitHub, we’ve tried to optimize for
happiness.
Simply because a company with that philosophy is one I’ve
always wanted to work for.
It turns out that by doing that, you can optimize for success at
the same time.
19. People
Organization
Environment
Thursday, November 3, 2011
I’ve identified three main areas where optimizing for
happiness is effective.
20. People
Organization
Environment
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Companies are made up of people.
People are the most important part of a company.
How do you optimize the hiring process for happiness?
22. Hire the Best
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Hire the best people you can find.
There’s nobody unhappier than someone you just had to fire.
It is our responsibility to hire the best.
23. Seek and Offer
The 1% Fallacy
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Use your network of existing employees and friends.
An offer is a powerful thing.
“Seek and offer” is better than job post blast because it avoids
the 1% fallacy.
24. Tech Review via
Open Source
Free as in
AWESOME!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Technical interviews are mostly useless.
25. Riddle Me Not
How many barbers are
there in the UK?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Please please please stop with the riddles. In no circumstance is
that relevant to the job.
26. Cultural Fit
http://www.toothpastefordinner.com
Thursday, November 3, 2011
You can’t judge cultural fit from code. We do our interviews at
a bar or cafe.
30. Health Care
Unmetered Sick Days
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Definitely optimized for cost by most companies.
31. Vacations
Also unmetered
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Responsibility and trust.
32. Side Projects
Thursday, November 3, 2011
In a cost optimized situation, side projects would be prohibited.
Side projects allow us a distraction from everyday mission critical
work.
A collaborative canvas to experiment with others.
33. Thursday, November 3, 2011
My favorite GitHub side project is Hubot
He’s our Campfire chat bot written in Node.js.
He can do a lot of things.
43. What is the ROI of making
my employees happy?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
44. People
Organization
Environment
Thursday, November 3, 2011
45. Flat Lattice
Organization
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Made famous by Gore Corp.
- Flat
- Team based
- Personal initiative
- No org charts
- No chains of command
47. Well De ned Goals
Cheerio!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Help developers work better together.
- Main Site
- Enterprise Site
- Training
- Jobs
- Conferences
50. Self Managed
Autonomy!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
One of the tenets of Dan Pink’s keys to worker motivation is
autonomy.
That means being in charge of your destiny.
Enhances intrinsic motivation.
51. Leadership by
Merit and Ability
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Self managed doesn’t me unmanaged.
Leaders arise naturally.
Company of the compelling argument.
56. No Work Hours
ROWE
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Rigid working hours are optimized for control.
Cali Ressler and Jodi Thompson, HR at Best Buy.
Gap in 2008. Turnover dropped by 50%, engagement up 13%.
Predicated on trust.
66. Good Ideas
Liquid Networks
Serendipity
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Liquid = lots of nodes floating around
Serendipity = nodes hitting each other
67. Thursday, November 3, 2011
MIT Building 20, built in 1943 as a temporary building for the
Radiation Laboratory.
Dozens of occupants.
Everything from acoustics to guided missiles to model train
club was here.
Successful because of easy modification and fluidity.
68. Thursday, November 3, 2011
Microsoft Research building 99 built in 2007.
Designed with flexibility in mind.
Reconfigurable walls, glass walled naturally lit conference
rooms, and a huge atrium.
73. Thursday, November 3, 2011
This is our bar. We like to collect fine whiskies and gins to
share with visitors and after hours.
74. Thursday, November 3, 2011
And this is the kegerator I built.
But it’s not really about the beer.
It’s about bringing people together in casual conversation
where serendipitous ideas can be made.
75. Thursday, November 3, 2011
Drinkups let us connect with our users.
Costs money but makes us happy and engaged.
76. What is the ROI of creating
a happy workplace?
Thursday, November 3, 2011