Chad Dickerson emphasizes the importance of a strong engineering culture at Etsy, arguing that culture is fundamental to success and can often outweigh technical decisions. He advocates for a clear vision of company culture, ongoing effort to cultivate it, and investing in tools that reinforce it. Additionally, he encourages open-sourcing their culture and software to strengthen community and creativity among engineers.

1. Code as Craft:
Building a Strong Engineering Culture
Chad Dickerson
CEO, Etsy
chad@etsy.com / @chaddickerson

2. Culture strategy at
most companies:

3. We’re growing but we to us
Culture is important still
act hereaatstartup!
like ACME!

4. “culture isn’t just
one aspect of
the game —
. . . it is the game.”

5. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”
-- Peter Drucker

6. “the major problems of our work are not so
much technological as sociological in nature”

7. A strong culture can overcome almost
any set of poor technical decisions.

8. A weak culture can’t be saved
by using the best technology.

9. Culture is also what brings
people to your company

10. It beats everything else

12. Have a clear vision for
the culture you want

13. make culture a visible priority

14. (it’s a lot of work)

15. accept that culture is an
ongoing, organic activity

16. Cultivating the Etsy culture**
**buy me: http://etsy.me/tilltheland ($18)

17. buy me:
http://etsy.me/beniceorleave
($10)

18. Make getting things done
your cultural norm

19. On the basis of more than a decade of research. . . . the authors
clarify the matter once and for all: What motivates people on a day-
to-day basis is the sense that they are making progress.

20. Invest in tools to
reinforce your culture

21. http://etsy.me/deployinate

22. http://etsy.me/justship

23. Make a statement

24. engineers are
creative people

25. “At Etsy, our mission is to enable people to make
a living making things. The engineers who make
Etsy make our living making something we love:
software. We think of our code as craft.”

26. Actively open source
the culture

27. http://codeascraft.etsy.com/

28. Take it on the road

29. SXSW miniconference

32. Bring your heroes
into the fold

33. Douglas Crockford

34. Fred Brooks

35. http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/02/continuous-deployment.html
Fred Wilson

36. (open source your software, too)
github.com/etsy/deployinator
github.com/etsy/statsd
github.com/etsy/logster
(and more!)

37. Spread the love

40. Be a little silly

44. http://vimeo.com/13214706 (12,000 views to date)

47. A strong culture is
a fun culture

48. Building strong cultures and
open sourcing them. . . .

49. . . .makes the world
a better place

50. Thank you! Questions?
My email: chad@etsy.com