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Another Rare Gem
At Saab Sensis, we use Atlassian‘s Confluence wiki and Jira issue tracking tools for intra-project communications. They are wonderful, easy to use, and instantaneously fluid communication tools that increase productivity relative to the sole use of paper documents and fragmented, agenda-less meetings.
After reading this article by Atlassian employee John Rotenstein, “It’s the Culture, Stupid!“, I’ve added the company to my list of faves:
So, how did Atlassian squeeze into the esteemed BD00 list of faves? Here are the snippets that did the trick:
- Atlassian’s CEOs have instilled an information culture throughout the company with the core value of “Open Company, No Bullshit”. The result is a bottom-up democracy of information where information sharing is the norm and information hoarding is a foreign concept.
- The very act of using a wiki, with its easy access to information and default ‘open’ nature of information, led to an information culture in Atlassian of openness and sharing.
- Where ever possible, information is made accessible to all staff. Instead of sending person-to-person emails, relevant information is placed on the wiki for all staff to read. Instead of storing information in documents (eg Word files), information is entered directly onto the wiki so that it is searchable and accessible to all staff — even from home! New staff members, upon joining the company, have immediate access to all historical information kept on the wiki.
- From the very beginning, Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar had a firm belief in having an ‘Open Company’. Unlike other companies that kept information in silos, their vision has always been of a company that has open information by default.
Regarding number 1, I love when employees and executives use everyday language within and without the company – not the carefully crafted, robo-management jargon that wall-streeters and elitist big-wigs want to hear.
Regarding number 4, I love how the company policy toward information is open by default; not closed by default like the moo-herd.
Note: With a tinge of regret, I replaced Saab Sensis with Atlassian in my list of faves. It’s a good company and I really do like working there, but after a bit of reflection and re-evaluation, it’s just not in the same class. In BD00’s whacky and weird world (where you don’t wanna go because the sky is pink and water flows uphill), Saab Sensis is a notch above the sea of CLORGs and DYSCOs that dot the landscape, but a notch below these world class organizations.
Zero Revenue, Zero Cost
Since my cafepress.com T-shirt shop, “The Frontal Assault Idiot“, opened to rave reviews earlier this month, the dough has been rolling in. Check out the orders report below (especially the notice in red) for the fiscal month of July 2011. LOL!
I guess I’ll have to bring in some hot shot consultants to help me get my expenses down and fend off my creditors. But wait! There are no expenses. I can stay in business. Whoo Hoo!
Humility Follwed By Hubris
In contrast to yesterday’s post on CEO humility, this post about the opposite – CEO (and board of directors) hubris.
In the usatoday.com article, “CEOs reap huge payouts in 2011, corporate filings show“, the following stats are printed:
U.S. workers averaged $46,742 in 2010, up 2.6% from 2009. A June GovernanceMetrics analysis found average compensation among S&P 500 CEOs rose to $12 million in 2010, up 18% from 2009 — and that’s not counting the potential multimillion-dollar value of stock or stock options, which are granted at set prices and provide holders profits as stock values rise.
So, let’s see. The average “Board Of Directors” thinks that the average CEO is worth $12M/$47K = 255 DICs. Oh well. Who am I to judge what “Boards of Direlectors” decide they pay CEOs? Nevertheless, others do pass judgment:
“It’s insane,” says the Value Alliance’s Eleanor Bloxham. “Corporate boards have bought into the idea that they have to pay up for performance. There’ll be more of the same until institutional investors decide CEOs aren’t worth what they’re being paid.”
Alas, I don’t see the day arriving soon where “institutional investors decide CEOs aren’t worth what they’re being paid“. Do you?
Adders, Subtractors, Creators
In a perfect world, every person involved in an org is either a value creator or a value adder. Although there are a handful of hard to find examples of the (almost) perfect org, the landscape is littered with these types of mediocre and poor performing orgs:
Rimshot
Research In Motion (RIM) is the creator of the wildly successful Blackberry phone. However, even with the recent release of the well-respected (but too late to the game) Playbook tablet, RIM’s financial and market positions have started to erode as a result of the iPhone and Android onslaught.
Either RIM is shot, or they’re well on their way to being shot – as in “out of business“. For the details, check out “RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind — Engadget“.
The interesting aspect to this “open-letter-from-disgruntled-employee-to-management” case is that the anonymous employee is a senior executive and not a DIC; nor even a manager from a flabby middle borg layer. This fact just about seals the deal – RIM is probably shot.
Another serious piece of evidence that forbears the impending implosion of the RIM corpricracy is the totally predictable and papally infallible response from the corpo spin team:
Of course, as the papal response implies, the open letter writer is a traitorous, agenda-seeking coward and “the senior management team at RIM is fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the company’s challenges and its opportunities“.
But wait! The flood gates have opened and there appear to be several more traitorous, anonymous cowards in the borg that are coming forward. Gee, RIM’s hiring processes must suck to allow all these unethical yellow bellies through the door, no?
Open For B’ness
Whoo Hoo! The “Frontal Assault Idiot” cafepress.com shop is now open for business. Scott Adams, eat your heart out.
Check out a sampling of the “must have” products that you’ve been waiting to empty your bank account for:
Unbelievably, and joyfully, I constructed this store and populated it with product designs in about six hours. Is that kool or what? However, each “free” storefront seems to only allow 12 designs to be posted for sale.
Here’s what my store dashboard look like at the moment (LOL!!!):
I’m gonna start a sequel, “The Frontal Assault Idiot II” shop, as soon as I finish totaling up my revenues from the debut shop. Don’t hold your breath, cuz it might take awhile to wash the green stank off of my greedy fingers.
Heartbroken, But Hopeful
Well, it’s done. The public announcement has been made. The aerospace and defense industry company that I’ve been privileged to work at for 22 years, Sensis Corp., has been sold to SAAB AB.
I’ve been extremely lucky to have participated in the birth and growth of a vibrant, successful, and sovereign company. In 1987, I was recruited away from behemoth GE Inc. by some great people to work at tiny Sensis Corp. I checked in as employee number 13. Before painfully contracting to 500+ people through recent layoffs and a post-layoff loss of some incredibly key engineering talent, the company steadily grew over the years from a core of 7 people to over 800+.
The second law of thermodynamics dictates that nothing stays the same forever. Like all natural laws, it’s impersonal and it applies to all people, things, and enterprises. Thus, it’s time to move on and work on new projects/products with new people. I’m heartbroken, but hopeful for the future because…..
“When you’re through changing, you’re through.” – Bruce Barton
P Equals R Minus C
Being a dufus, I’m constantly trying to use the power of abstraction (a.k.a selective ignorance) to syntegrate complex issues, problems, situations, and relationships up into ridiculously simple generalizations that are, of course, wrong. For example, take the classic business performance equation below.
In the sliver of dufus-land that aligns with reality, if revenues don’t consistently exceed costs, it’s just a matter of time before a new or established business goes kaput, no?
When a company starts up, by definition, it has only a handful of people who fulfill all of the roles in the right hand side of the above figure needed to prosper and develop. Over time, “approved” micro-specialization, infectious hubris, empire-building, and a whole lotta BS accompanies the obsession to”grow the enterprise“. These sanctioned behaviors usually (but not always) lead to an unsustainable and cost heavy behemoth that brings the party to an end – all under the eyes of the self-proclaimed brilliant dudes who run the show. Bummer.
The Ideal Quadrant
Zappos.com operates on the simple principle that happy people make productive workers and productive workers make a successful enterprise. Thus, the policies and cultural accoutrements instituted at Zappos.com are thoughtfully and proactively designed to foster happiness without totally abdicating control. For Zappos.com, it’s not enough to have a “competitive” benefits and pay package – everyone (still in business) has to have one.
With that in mind, let’s explore the four quadrants in the simplistic table below. Right off the bat, we can ditch the two quadrants in the second row. After all, no org can remain viable for very long with an unproductive workforce – regardless of whether the emps are happy. No?
So that leaves us with the two quadrants in the first row. One would think that the holy grail for excellence-seeking orgs is the Productive-And-Happy (PAH) quadrant. However, a multitude of circumstantial evidence leads me to believe that most orgs are either consciously or unconsciously incompetent at catalyzing the development of a PAH workforce – regardless of what is espoused in the annual report. The legions of enterprises that fall into the CLORGs and DYSCOs category don’t even make an effort to develop “happy” employees. The SCOLs that run the show are too macho and they delude themselves into thinking that happiness doesn’t matter or it’s “not in their job description“. Should it be?
What comes first, productivity or happiness? Is one attribute a pre-requisite for attaining the other?
No Golf?
While reading about the rise of the Google juggernaut in Steven Levy‘s “In The Plex“, I stumbled upon this jaw dropping passage:
WTF? No sponsored golf? Bummer.
Note: The main purpose of this post wasn’t really to joke about the lack of golf outings sanctioned at Google. It was to make sure that you, dear readers, saw the “coddling” sentence. In CLORGs and DYSCOs that have lost their way, and Google may eventually morph into one of these monstrosities; salesman, marketers and managers coddle themselves and their incest-born kin more than the bottom line wealth and value creators; be they artists, ad-creators, plumbers, electricians, doctors, nurses, system engineers, software engineers, test engineers, and/or hardware engineers. But hey, don’t listen to me. I have an ego-maniacal agenda – just like the roles I condemn.
Why am I here?
WTF?
Meh!
D'oh!
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