1.
Everything Changes at 20-25
@peldi - #BoS2017

2.
Warning: lots of screenshots!

3.
?v.0
Experiment
v.1
It’s Working!
v.2Small
Team
v.3
Handbook
v.4
Kaizen
v.5
????

4.
IMMEDIATE
COMPREHENSIVE
TOTAL FREAKOUT.

5.
HELP!

6.
Slam on the breaks.

7.
In Today’s Talk…
1. What I should do as a CEO
2. How we get stuff done
3. How we give each other feedback
4. Policies we added at 20-25

8.
In Today’s Talk…
1. What I should do as a CEO
2. How we get stuff done
3. How we give each other feedback
4. Policies we added at 20-25

9.
Rookie CEO Grows Up
…Reluctantly
Giacomo ‘Peldi’ Guilizzoni - Business of Software 2015 - @peldi #BoS2015

10.
Joel Spolsky Patrick McKenzie Andy Brice

11.
The “B” word

12.
That Was

13.
Fine then, you can call me boss
whatever that means

14.
Balsamiq is “flat”

15.
IMMEDIATE
COMPREHENSIVE
TOTAL FREAKOUT.

16.
Paul, what’s my job?

17.
CEO’s Areas of Responsibility
1. People
2. Money and Policies
3. Strategy and Vision
4. Brand Guardian

18.
1. People
• Plan Staffing
• Recruiting Process
• Employee Development
• Employee Engagement

19.
2. Money and Policies
• Finances
• Kaizen

20.
3. Strategy and Vision
• Where is the market going, and what’s our place in it?
• Be the keeper and communicator of the vision

21.
4. Brand Guardian
• Keep the brand current with who we are as we change
• Review marketing and community

22.
1. People
• Plan Staffing
• Recruiting Process
• Employee Development
• Employee Engagement
2. Money and Policies
• Finances
• Kaizen
3. Strategy and Vision
• Where is the market going, and
what’s our place in it?
• Be the keeper and communicator
of the vision
4. Brand Guardian
• Keep the brand current with who
we are as we change
• Review marketing and community
I’m a
CEO
!

23.
–Balsamiq Handbook
“Trying to be too flat is a lot of work. When we
notice that putting a policy in place to solve
something in a flat way is way too much work
(diminishing returns), we take a shortcut and
use Peldi as "the boss" instead.”

24.
–Paul Kenny
“Stop trying to make people happy.”

25.
–Paul Kenny
“Clear your schedule.”

26.
I have to tread carefully
• I have to sell my ideas
• I have to repeat myself
• I have to be more mindful of micro-aggressions
• I have to make changes VERY incrementally

27.
In Today’s Talk…
1. What I should do as a CEO
2. How we get stuff done
3. How we give each other feedback
4. Policies we added at 20-25

28.
People Management = BAD
Project Management = OK, I guess

29.
In Today’s Talk…
1. What I should do as a CEO
2. How we get stuff done
3. How we give each other feedback
4. Policies we added at 20-25

30.
Up until 10 employees
• It didn’t even cross my mind
• No-one brought it up, we were just all working very
closely together

31.
Between 10 and 16 Employees
• People started asking for reviews
• I tried hard to avoid doing them
• I’m not your boss!
• I just want to code!
• No-one was thinking about people’s development
• Some people didn’t get a raise for 3 years

32.
25 x 4 = 100

33.
Personal Coaches
• It’s flat
• It’s organic
• It scales
• It’s in line with the our servant-leadership style
• We like it!

34.
In Today’s Talk…
1. What I should do as a CEO
2. How we get stuff done
3. How we give each other feedback
4. Policies we added at 20-25

35.
PD Clubs

36.
In conclusion

37.
Org Chart

38.
Organism Chart

39.
Growing up hurts

40.
• Not everyone can come to the retreat
• Not enough time at the retreat to have quality time
with everyone
• Using #announcements is really expensive
• Good discussions don’t happen in large groups
• ~100 concurrent projects = you HAVE to give up on
trying to follow of all of them.
• Reaching whole company consensus is hard and
very painful

41.
4th week of June
4th week of June
11 Weeks After Easter

42.
Shift from company to teams
the right way

43.
Culture Trumps Everything

44.
We’re good people, and we care.

45.
Will it last?

46.
Thank you. @peldi - #BoS2017