How do you build great software?

A bit of a rambling talk I gave at Brooklyn Beta about the importance of your surroundings. Covering GitHub's approach to software development and the importance of the tools you use.

Transcript

1. 
   B
   

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2. William Morris
   If you want a golden rule that will t
   everything, this is it: Have nothing in
   your houses that you do not know to be
   useful or believe to be beautiful.
   

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3. I’m Kyle Neath
   On the interwebs @kneath
   

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4. I’m ≅ Designer
   

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5. I work at GitHub
   A better way to make software
   

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6. urbancase.com
   

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8. I <3 engineering
   beautiful software
   

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9. Software is a force for
   change in our world
   

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10. Affect a change?
    

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11. Affect a Change.
    

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12. How do you build
    great software?
    

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13. Conway’s Law
    Organizations which design systems ...
    are constrained to produce designs
    which are copies of the communication
    structures of these organizations
    

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14. What if you could build the
    best software company
    in the world?
    

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15. What if you could build the
    best software company
    in the world?
    

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16. Let’s try.
    

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17. 
        
    Traits of a great software company
    

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18. Bootstrapped to profitability
    Predictable revenue stream
    No funding until 100 employees
    

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19. Our customers were our friends
    We became extremely customer focused
    

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20. We used GitHub to build GitHub
    We became extremely product focused
    

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21. We hired slowly and carefully
    We became extremely company focused
    

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23. We are driven by autonomy,
    mastery, and purpose
    

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24. An open source company
    optimized for happiness
    

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25. No managers
    No deadlines
    No top-down roadmap
    No core hours
    No mandatory meetings
    

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26. “That’s cool and all when you’re a
    small company, but eventually
    you’re going to need
    management and structure”
    Everybody Ever
    

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27. 2009 201
    

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28. 2010 201
    

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29. 2011 201
    

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30. NOW October 10, 2012
    

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31. 123 hubbernauts
    I guess we’re a big company after all
    

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34. Build the best software possible
    and allow people to pay for it
    GitHub’s driving principle
    

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35. Favor leadership
    over management
    

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36. Favor goals
    over deadlines
    

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37. Favor a shared vision
    over roadmaps
    

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38. Favor sustainable pace
    over hourly commitments
    

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39. Favor tangible work
    over meetings
    

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40. Favor building new tools
    over using existing shitty ones
    

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41. William Morris
    If you want a golden rule that will t
    everything, this is it: Have nothing in
    your houses that you do not know to be
    useful or believe to be beautiful.
    

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59. Knyle’s Law
    Organizations will design software that
    is a copy of the software they surround
    themselves with.
    

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60. Your surroundings
    =
    your company + your software
    

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61. 
    Traits of a great organization
    

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62. Remote by default
    

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63. Do real work
    

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64. Open by default
    

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65. Encourage serendipitous
    interaction
    

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66. Always be classy
    

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67. Create a better future
    

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68. No matter what,
    love your work
    

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69. We can create a better future
    by creating better companies
    

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70. 
    B
    

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