People First (with notes)

PEOPLE FIRST Monday, September 16, 13

I am convinced that if we are to get on
the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. Monday, September 16, 13

We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society
to a person-oriented society. Monday, September 16, 13

When machines and computers, proﬁt motives and property rights, are
considered more important than people Monday, September 16, 13

the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are
incapable of being conquered. Monday, September 16, 13

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to
question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. Monday, September 16, 13

On the one hand we are called to play the
Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. Monday, September 16, 13

One day we must come to see that the whole
Jericho Road must be transformed Monday, September 16, 13

so that men and women will not be constantly beaten
and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. Monday, September 16, 13

True compassion is more than ﬂinging a coin to a
beggar. It comes to see that an ediﬁce which produces beggars needs restructuring. Monday, September 16, 13

Monday, September 16, 13 Ernie Chapin is not Martin Luther
King, Jr. Late 60s, looks like a goofy, retired high school teacher and coach—because that's what he is. Now he puts all his time into investing in kids in our local juvenile justice system and helping empower teachers across the US who work with at-risk kids. Ran into him at the airport and he asked where we were ﬂying. I told him about coming here and he asked what I was talking about. I simply said,

PEOPLE FIRST Monday, September 16, 13 I simply said, "People
ﬁrst" and he about jumped out of his chair with enthusiasm and shoved into my hand the workbook for his seminar. On the cover was this quote:

As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a
child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized. —Haim Ginott Monday, September 16, 13

HOW MANY PEOPLE THINK THIS JUST APPLIES TO TEACHERS? Monday,
September 16, 13 How many people think this just applies to teachers? It doesn't.

HOW MANY PEOPLE THINK THIS JUST APPLIES TO TEACHERS? IT
DOESN’T. Monday, September 16, 13 How many people think this just applies to teachers? It doesn't.

NO MATTER YOUR TITLE, IT IS YOUR JOB TO MAKE
THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU FEEL CARED ABOUT, EMPOWERED, ENCOURAGED, AND HUMANIZED. Monday, September 16, 13 No matter your title, it is your job to make the people around you feel cared about, empowered, encouraged, and humanized.

NO MATTER YOUR TITLE, IT IS YOUR JOB TO MAKE
THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU FEEL CARED ABOUT, EMPOWERED, ENCOURAGED, AND HUMANIZED. Monday, September 16, 13 No matter your title, it is your job to make the people around you feel cared about, empowered, encouraged, and humanized. It doesn't matter how pressing your deadlines, how important and world-changing your project is.

START WITH THE PEOPLE NEAREST (JUST DON’T STOP THERE) Monday,
September 16, 13 Start with the people nearest

START WITH THE PEOPLE NEAREST (JUST DON’T STOP THERE) Monday,
September 16, 13 Start with the people nearest just don’t stop there.

"Let everyone sweep in front of their own door, and
the whole world will be clean." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Monday, September 16, 13 “Let everyone sweep in front of their own door, and the whole world will be clean.”

Monday, September 16, 13 Here’s where my doorstep starts.

Monday, September 16, 13 With Katie

Monday, September 16, 13 and Ephraim

Monday, September 16, 13 and Kristi

Monday, September 16, 13 3

Monday, September 16, 13 So let me ask you a
question.

WHY? Monday, September 16, 13

WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO? Monday, September 16,
13

YOU WANT TO KNOW YOUR LIFE HAD MEANING YOU WANT
TO MAKE A MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE Monday, September 16, 13 You, just like nearly every person who came before you, want to leave your mark on the earth. You want to know that your life had meaning. That your limited time on earth wasn’t wasted... Almost certainly, you want your life to have meaning and you want to make a meaningful difference. So-- why make software? Why build stuff for the web?

TECHNOLOGY MULTIPLIES OUR POWER, INFLUENCE, AND REACH Monday, September 16,
13 I think we all recognize technology is an incredible force. It massively multiplies our power, inﬂuence, reach.

WHAT LASTS? Monday, September 16, 13 But we all know:
the results of software don't endure. With the pace of change, 80% of ﬁve year old software is as good as worthless.

ONLY YOUR INDIVIDUAL INTERACTIONS WITH PEOPLE WILL BE CERTAIN TO
LAST Monday, September 16, 13 What will last are your individual interactions with people. No work you do will have the kind of lasting impact that giving time, energy and care to individual people can have.

Life’s most urgent and persistent question is: “What are you
doing for others?” — Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, September 16, 13

WE ALL HAVE PAIN OUR HURT WILL ENDLESSLY CALL TO
US Monday, September 16, 13 Let's be honest: we all have pain. Some of us have experienced tremendous loss and some of us have caused pain in others’ lives that we regret every day. I personally know a few of the stories in this room—there are some truly heartbreaking experiences many who are here have lived through.

WE ALL HAVE PAIN OUR HURT WILL ENDLESSLY CALL TO
US Monday, September 16, 13 and our hurt will endless call out to us to focus on it. there’s very little we can do to silence those voices when we hear them.

WE WILL USE OUR HURT. WHAT WILL YOU USE IT
FOR? Monday, September 16, 13 Some of the most amazing, most generous people I know have experienced a signiﬁcant amount of hurt in their lives. You *will* use your hurt. What will you use it for?

WE WILL USE OUR HURT. WHAT WILL WE USE IT
FOR? Monday, September 16, 13 What will you use it for?

WE CAN USE IT TO HURT OURSELVES Monday, September 16,
13

WE CAN USE IT TO HURT OTHERS Monday, September 16,
13

WE CAN USE IT TO BRING HEALING AND JOY AND
WISDOM Monday, September 16, 13 You can use it to bring healing and joy and wisdom to others by being sensitive to a unique pain in the broad spectrum of human experience.

WE WILL USE OUR HURT. WHAT WILL YOU USE IT
FOR? Monday, September 16, 13 I was ranting about unhealthy organizations and destructive approaches to managing humans and Mikeal said, "I think everyone should work in a horrible and oppressive environment in their early 20s so they know what they never want to do to people." and a lightbulb went off for me because so much of why &yet works the way we do is because of the experience of a hostile work environment that led me to feel completely depressed and suicidal for two years and nearly cost me everything I love in life.

http://passion-projects.github.com/ Monday, September 16, 13 How many people have heard
of Passion Projects, started by Julie Ann Horvath? It’s a monthly talk series designed to help surface and celebrate the work of incredible women in our industry. Listen to what Julie had to say recently:

Every time I talk about what lead me to create
Passion Projects, I am forced to revisit the negative experiences I've had in this industry. A coworker and friend recently pointed out that if I hadn't experienced these things, I might not be motivated to support other women in our community or create things that aim to improve the experiences for all women in this industry. Over the years I've learned that the best way to make sure your experience doesn't go to waste is to invest it in the people around you. Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) — tell her she’s awesome & wise! http://julieannhorvath.com/2013/07/09/a-different-perspective.html Monday, September 16, 13 Every time I talk about what lead me to create Passion Projects, I am forced to revisit the negativ experiences I've had in this industry. A coworker and friend recently pointed out that if I hadn't experienced these things, I might not b motivated to support other women in our community or create things that aim to improve the experiences for all women in this industry. Over the years I've learned that the best way to make sure your experience doesn't go to waste to invest it in the people around you. Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore —tell her she’s awesome & wise)

Monday, September 16, 13 My friend and colleague Philip Roberts
has begun to write openly and with absolute vulnerability about his experience with depression, getting counseling, and medication. You have some unique sensitivities to the pain of the human condition because of your experiences. You can use those to make things better for other people.

Monday, September 16, 13

PEOPLE *FIRST* Monday, September 16, 13 The notion of people
ﬁrst is something that can't be tacked this on to an organization.

“PEOPLE FIRST” CAN’T BE PASTED ON. Monday, September 16, 13
You cannot paste on culture. A quality culture is something that emerges a fruit that grows from people as the priority. If the roots are rotten, it doesn't matter how brightly we paint the leaves or how many apples we tape on the tree, it's not going to grow good fruit.

PEOPLE *FIRST* Monday, September 16, 13 Building a culture of
shipping is ﬁne—so long as it's secondary to the culture of people ﬁrst. People love to ship, but driving people to ship at all cost can be unhealthy. Building a meritocracy sounds like a great idea, but does that mean the person whose partner suddenly left them or the person struggling with their health is credited with less merit? Clearly there are harsh realities and hard decisions that have to be made. The question is at what point you make the choice.

JSConf LET’S TALK ABOUT Monday, September 16, 13

FEW PIECES OF SOFTWARE BUILT IN THE LAST SIX YEARS
WILL HAVE THE ENDURING IMPACT OF JSCONF. Monday, September 16, 13

WHAT LASTS? Monday, September 16, 13 I asked earlier, “What
lasts?” The impact of JSConf will last—not because of the power of technology, not because it’s a system. But because it’s deeply and resiliently human.

CARGO CULTING CULTURE WON’T WORK Monday, September 16, 13 Familar
with the term "cargo cult"? Going through the motions without knowing the real reason behind them. You could cargo cult a conference: ﬁll a cool venue with round tables, awesome speakers, entertainment, and beer. Zero guarantee you'll get the heart of JSConf. Does anyone think those are the important elements of JSConf? Doubtful. If your aim was to duplicate the effect of JSConf, you would be unwise to start with the things you can see. Instead, start with the heart and work outward. You may come to different conclusions entirely in terms of how to accomplish the same *feeling* and *effect* even if the methods are different.

FEW PIECES OF SOFTWARE BUILT IN THE LAST SIX YEARS
WILL HAVE THE ENDURING IMPACT OF JSCONF. Monday, September 16, 13 Why will JSConf have such an enduring impact? More than anything because Chris Williams chose to be an intentionally tiny leader—because he left room for people like Tiffany and Malte and Holger and Jan to build other events. JSConf follows this principle:

Small things done with great love will change the world.
— Mother Teresa Monday, September 16, 13

SMALL? Monday, September 16, 13 A few months ago, I
was in a conversation where people were talking about the obligation for talented software developers to do more ambitious things, solve more difﬁcult technical problems. I’m not criticizing that point—but I want to focus attention in a different direction.

MANY OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEMS AREN’T IN
SOFTWARE AND AREN’T GOING TO BE SOLVED WITH SOFTWARE. Monday, September 16, 13 The thing is, many of the *biggest* and most important problems aren't in software or going to be solved directly by software. They're in humans. Communities. Organizations. Societies. Developers have a tendency to want to solve the world with brilliantly conceived systems, but that's unfortunately not the way most real *positive* lasting change happens. In fact, masterminding a brilliant system for people has historically never ended well. I put little faith in masterminded systems—I believe in the power of individual people.

IF THE TINY DECISIONS WE MAKE DON’T VALUE PEOPLE, THE
BIG PICTURE WILL DRIFT THAT WAY—IT’LL JUST LOOK A LOT UGLIER. Monday, September 16, 13 The world and our communities and organizations are built on a massive and complex conglomeration of all the tiny decisions. If the tiny decisions we make don’t value people, the big picture will ultimately drift that way— it’ll just look a lot uglier. So where do we start?

ALWAYS START AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE Monday, September 16, 13
The answer is not to build a system. Culture only scales organically. You have to put in the hard work of each individual interaction, over and over. There are no shortcuts. No plans for scaling. No premature optimizations. Always start as small as possible. It starts with you and me.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but nobody thinks of
changing themselves." —Leo Tolstoy Monday, September 16, 13 "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but nobody thinks of changing themselves." —Leo Tolstoy

Monday, September 16, 13 When we were at JSConf Brazil,
their nation was in the midst of huge protests. qmx pointed out that while everyone hates the undeniable and rampant corruption of the government, the people have a culture of accepting and giving bribes and doing things like celebrating when they get back too much change, instead of returning it. He pointed out that most of the things that people hate about the government are the same things being done on a smaller scale that seem "less evil". How true this is, regardless of the culture or the context.

WHEN WE DON’T LIKE WHAT WE SEE IN THE WORLD,
WE NEED TO LOOK INSIDE TOO. Monday, September 16, 13 When we don't like what we see in the outside world, we really need to look inside. Nearly every element of what we dislike about the state of the world we can ﬁnd in atomic form in ourselves. When we see sexism, racism, egocentrism, abuse of power, and blind privilege demonstrated by others, it becomes an chance to evaluate ourselves and where we need to improve. And when we look at businesses and organizations that operate in ways we can’t stand, we have the chance to ask ourselves in what areas have we compromised our own integrity — and how we'll avoid the same fate. The darkest plans were made and carried out by people like us. The best and most generous ideas ideas came from people like us.

WHEN WE DON’T LIKE WHAT WE SEE IN THE WORLD,
WE NEED TO LOOK INSIDE TOO. Monday, September 16, 13 One of the main reasons that it's hard to create positive change is that most of the attempts to do it are aiming to solve the whole problem, with the goal being getting credit for it and proﬁting from it. My long-time mentor and friend Julien Genestoux pointed out recently that often people want to reinvent the wheel simply so we can put our own name on it.

"It’s amazing what you can get done when you don’t
care who gets credit.” —Intentionally unattributed ;) Monday, September 16, 13 You've probably heard this line before: "It's amazing what you can get done when you don't care who gets credit." — Intentionally unattributed ;)

Most people, when confronted with the world’s problems, think: “I
know, I’ll solve this and then I’ll be rich and powerful!” Now we have more problems. Monday, September 16, 13 Most people, when confronted with the world’s problems, think: “I know, I’ll solve this and then I’ll be rich and powerful!” Now we have more problems.

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World
Monday, September 16, 13 One of the books that I’ve been mulling on for a bit is “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World” Hyde uses “gift” as an anology He explains the underlying psychology and sociology of the gift cultures of various ethnic groups and time periods and uses these as an analogy for art in the modern world. I think it’s a terrifically relevant read for anyone who thinks about open source culture.

“INDIAN GIVER” Monday, September 16, 13 How many people have
heard the term "Indian giver"? It's this crazy racist term in the US that means to give someone something and then take it back. The meaning of the term does a good job of explaining the cultural mismatch between Native Americans and Europeans. It's no secret that Native Americans (like many aboriginal populations) lived fully sustainably. They also didn't believe in the notion of personal possessions. Clearly this contrasted with the European mindest of property. Gifts in Native culture were meant to be kept in motion. You didn't simply receive—you used for a while and returned, or perhaps offered something that was in your own possession as another gift.

WHEN NATIVES TOOK BACK THEIR PIPES, THEY WERE TRYING TO
TEACH EUROPEANS HOW TO GIVE Monday, September 16, 13 So when Natives came and took back the pipes they had gifted to Europeans, they weren't taking something back—they were trying to teach them how to give. It's amazing how Europeans were insulted by their misunderstanding of something that was a undeniably a far healthier and happier way of living. In the same Martin Luther King Jr speech I played earlier, he has another great quote later on:

"The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to
teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just." — Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, September 16, 13 If we really want to make the world a better place, we must keep in check our own selﬁsh ambitions, and humbly consider others' ideas may well be better than our own—and consider that perhaps their unique vantage point may provide the keys to identifying what it is about our own ways that are so broken. equally so:

The developer arrogance of feeling that we have everything to
teach the rest of the world and nothing to learn from it is not just. Monday, September 16, 13

LET US NEVER FORGET: THE WEB IS NOT FOR WEB
DEVELOPERS! Monday, September 16, 13

“PEOPLE FIRST” MOST ESPECIALLY MEANS *I* AM NOT FIRST. Monday,
September 16, 13 Many years ago, when &yet was still an army of one, I read a line on the site of a web company who I respected a great deal. It said, "Everyone who has ever become a part of our team has remained part of our team to this day. No one has ever quit." You could feel the joy and pride in those words. I remember the day I revisited the same page and saw that line was gone---it's absence marked the page like an epitaph. In my naivete and arrogance, I felt that meant they had failed and vowed I would at least ﬁght to do better. And, oh, I fought it. The naivete which led me to hope that everyone who was part of our team would always be also deluded me into thinking it was my job to maintain that fact---and that doing otherwise was a failure on my part. It was indeed very wrong thinking.

“PEOPLE FIRST” MOST ESPECIALLY MEANS *I* AM NOT FIRST. Monday,
September 16, 13 I'm convinced that people need the right situation to grow and pursue their passions. Sometimes you're a student and then a teacher, only to again be a student. Sometimes a company is the right ﬁt for you to do the growing you need and the pursuing of dreams you can, and sometimes it just isn't any longer. As much as I'd love to always work with every single talented person I've ever gotten to, it would be absolutely wrong and selﬁsh of me to try to.

People are not 'things' to be manipulated, labeled, boxed, bought,
and sold. Above all else, they are not "human resources." We are entire human beings, containing the whole of the evolving universe, limitless until we are limited, whether by self or others. — Dee Hock Monday, September 16, 13 "People are not 'things' to be manipulated, labeled, boxed, bought, and sold. Above all else, they are not "human resources." We are entire human beings, containing the whole of the evolving universe, limitless until we are limited, whether by self or others." — Dee Hock

LET’S UNLIMIT PEOPLE Monday, September 16, 13 So let’s unlimit
people.

“PEOPLE FIRST” IS SO MUCH MORE THAN “DON’T BE A
DICK.” Monday, September 16, 13

ENCOURAGEMENT Monday, September 16, 13 I’m a big encouragement geek.
It’s amazing to see how much of an impact saying the right thing to someone can have. I know that’s been the case for me, personally. I can point to many people here who’ve given me encouragement right when I needed it. And I’ve also had the chance to see the impact of encouragement on people who I’ve given it to. Encouragement is really amazing:.

THEY SAY ENERGY CANNOT BE CREATED OR DESTROYED. ENCOURAGEMENT GIVES
PHYSICS THE FINGER. Monday, September 16, 13 It’s the only force that can change the world with words in the only way that matters: one person at a time. They say, "energy cannot be created or destroyed." Encouragement gives physics the ﬁnger.

PEOPLE DEEPLY DESIRE PERMISSION Monday, September 16, 13 What I've
found is people deeply desire *permission* — to be themselves, to pursue their hearts, to grow to be their best. Screw permission. Don't ask permission: give it to yourself. Even better: give it to others. Manufacture and distribute it.

DON’T ASK PERMISSION. GIVE IT TO YOURSELF. GIVE IT TO
OTHERS. MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTE IT. Monday, September 16, 13 What I've found is people deeply desire *permission* — to be themselves, to pursue their hearts, to grow to be their best. Screw permission. Don't ask permission: give it to yourself. Even better: give it to others. Manufacture and distribute it. As Howard Thurman said, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." I’ve found the best way to start a conspiracy is to ask people to do exactly everything good their heart desires and do whatever you can to help that along.

HOW DO WE PUT PEOPLE FIRST AT &YET? Monday, September
16, 13 People often ask me about how we work at &yet and it’s actually pretty simple. Expressing this type of organization as being "without managers" does a bit of a disservice and actually misses the point.

IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO MINIMIZE MANAGEMENT. YOU NEED TO MAXIMIZE
LEADERSHIP. Monday, September 16, 13 It’s not enough to minimize management. You need to maximize leadership. In fact, the things that make us capable of putting people ﬁrst mostly have everything to do with leadership.

1. Absolutely everyone should be a leader of the team.

2. Leadership is about responsibility and care, not authority. Monday,
September 16, 13

3. Each new person should fundamentally change the team. Monday,
September 16, 13 (this is essentially a test of whether or not they have been empowered as a leader)

4. Most problems are a problem of leadership. Monday, September
16, 13 (Things don’t get solved by creating a system or a policy. They get solved because someone who cares has the authority to make them better.)

5. Accidental hierarchy is a monkeypatch for missing leadership. Monday,
September 16, 13 It should be replaced as quickly and reasonably as possible.

6. People should bring their whole selves and their feelings
to work. Monday, September 16, 13 The health and happiness of people’s personal lives has a huge impact on their ability to do their best. We want to accept the reality that people go through tough times.

7. Conﬂict is an essential and healthy part of creativity.

8. Honesty is better than politeness, but always clean up
your mess. Monday, September 16, 13 If you need to say something, say it. But know that you’re likely to need to say you’re sorry and restore a relationship after working through a conﬂict. As Gar put it, “Never apologize for who you are or how you feel, always always apologize for what you do.”

9. Trust is everything. And trust is a choice, not
a feeling. Monday, September 16, 13 Trust is not negotiable—you either trust or you don’t.

Monday, September 16, 13 I was lying in Kristi’s arms.
It was 45 minutes after midnight at the end of a long and hard Monday. And I knew how deeply she loved me. I already knew, of course. I mean, I knew it because for over 12 years she’s proved it time and again in signiﬁcant ways, forgiving, believing the best, never failing. But more than that, I saw very clearly how none of the good in my life would never be without her—much more so than anyone else. Of course, I *knew* all that—but I’d never felt it ring in such a way—and after awaking in the dark I bolted from my bed compelled to write and express it so emphatically.

Monday, September 16, 13 A year and a half ago,
we went through a really dark time in our company. In less than a few weeks' time, we had a large amount of money stolen by a former ofﬁce manager, our largest client quit paying their bills, and we had every other project we were working on suddenly run out of money and end. It actually got worse from there before it got better, believe it or not. But the one thing I knew in the midst of it was that I’d personaly seen darker and more difﬁcult times and there wasn’t anything that could take away the things we had that really mattered. Six years ago December was perhaps the most challenging and piercing moment of our lives as we almost lost everything. But we didn’t—and it’s because of Kristi and because of how deeply she loves me.

Monday, September 16, 13 And, as I realized that night
something I subconsciously knew and already afﬁrmed but now felt resounding in my mind: n the years since, all the joys we’ve seen together in our relationship, in the birth and growth of our family, in the inception and development of our company have been the result of seeds she planted, tended, and refused to abandon. * [falls]

Monday, September 16, 13 Kristi is &yet's only investor—and I
expect that to remain. And I mean that in many ways more profound than the simple fact that she’s the one who paid the vast majority of our family’s bills the ﬁrst few years of &yet’s existence. And, sure, on paper, I may hold the title through technicality. But let’s be clear about one thing: I’m not the founder of &yet—Kristi and her love for me is. And from the bottom of my heart, and in the presence of all of you, I want to thank her for it loudly. She loved me through the most painful two years of my life. She loved me when I thought I was truly worthless.

j.mp/everything-changes Monday, September 16, 13 One of my heroes posted
this just a month ago: "If you want to make the world a better place you have to teach people they are valuable. When people value themselves *everything* changes." There is no scalable way to do this. There is no grand system that can be created.

Monday, September 16, 13 The only way it happens is
one person at a time.

@adambrault THANK YOU. Monday, September 16, 13

PLEASE HELP ME THANK THE JSCONF EU TEAM WITH WILD
APPLAUSE Monday, September 16, 13

People First (with notes)

People First (with notes)

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