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github
works
how
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we all work
in the finest
industry of
all time
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dream it
that morning
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build it
that afternoon
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that’s remarkable.
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can we do better?
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we’ve been on the
same path for
years
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can we
improve how
product is built?
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working asynchronously
optimizing
happiness
for
five years later
github
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@holman
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github, inc.
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ASYNCHRONOUSLY
WORKing
the philosophy
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when github was founded they:
worked on what they wanted
worked where they wanted
worked when they wanted
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when github was founded they:
were happy
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why change this?
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developer happiness
is central to our workflow
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no managers · NO DEADLINES
NO MEETINGS · NO WORK HOURS
this:
reflects that workflow
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in hindsight,
we work like
a big open source
project
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WORK LIKE
OPEN SOURCE
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the open source
model works
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distributed
collaboration
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GEOGRAPHY
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open source
happens everywhere
smart people are everywhere
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build a company that
can work anywhere
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tools are our office
planning, discussing, building
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all information
should be accessible
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HOURS
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open source
happens at any time
people are creative at all hours
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code is a
creative endeavor
let your people stay fresh
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night owls
ain’t morning people
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morning people
ain’t night owls
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you can’t
enforce creativity
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minimal
process
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every step you add
increases complexity
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every step you add
increases onboarding
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every step you add
increases inefficiency
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minimize human
processes
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code branching & release (WRONG)
V2
BRANCH
QA
MANAGER
STABLE merged
FEATURE
BRANCH
TUESDAY
CODE REVIEW
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code branching & release (WRONG)
V2
BRANCH
QA
MANAGER
STABLE merged
FEATURE
BRANCH
X TUESDAY
CODE REVIEW
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minimize human
processes
code branching & release
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code branching & release
branch pull request
master merged
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code branching & release
merged
run tests
auto-deploy
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sometimes it’s not
about automation
sometimes you have to
remove barriers
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ship code quicker
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less metawork,
more actual work
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ASYNCHRONOUSLY
WORKing
with tools
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pull requests
a request
to merge
your code
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pull requests
3,108 github/github pull requests
399 in the last month
63 in the last month - 1 year
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pull requests
3.1
1.4 pull requests PER employee
per month, 2011
pull requests PER employee
per month, 2012
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pull requests
we use pulls for
any new code
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pull requests
asynchronous
ask for feedback at their leisure
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pull requests
mentions
ping users, teams
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pull requests
avoid meetings
& in-person code review
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chat
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chat
chat is inherently
asynchronous
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chat
tapping me on my
shoulder is inherently
being a jerk
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chat
scheduling a meeting is
inherently probably a
hate crime
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chat
83 chat rooms
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chat
ping someone
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chat
ping someone
native OS X + ios notifications
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chat
get someone’s attention
without bothering them
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OPTIMIZing
HAPPINESS
for
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WHY BE
HAPPY?
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if you’re asking,
you’re probably
a horrible person
but...
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investing in employees
makes fiscal sense
(I can’t believe I had to say that)
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happy people
produce better work
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happy people
help you recruit
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happy people
keep you happier
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so how?
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BREAK
CONVENTION
from
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work style
asynchronous, distributed
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side project culture
let people build cool things
hubot · CI testing · deploy infrastructure
door me · music server · support tools
dev environment management · more
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travel
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company summit 2x/year
company-wide brainstorm
travel
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mini-summit 1x/year
team-based brainstorm
travel
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any talk, anywhere
your talk or as a travel buddy
travel
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github destinations
hack house for a dozen for a month
travel
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github destinations
hack house for a dozen for a month
travel
berlin · hawaii · Uruguay · Beijing · rome · etc.
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travel
why?
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travel
travel is eye-opening
new perspectives, new approaches
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travel
face time
bond with your coworkers
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travel
stay fresh
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FAMILY
focus
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people have
kids and stuff
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flexible hours &
locations are great
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120 hour
work weeks are silly
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family-friendly
company events
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existence of families
reflects success
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f i v e
YEARS
LATER
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four years in,
github’s the same
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four years in,
github’s changed
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changes and constants
are fascinating
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MORE
HUMANS
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2010
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2010
2011
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2010
2011
2012
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2012
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132 employees today
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2.5 million users today
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death of the
hero developer
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work moves across
ops, design, backend,
& frontend more
frequently
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rely on other teams
for sanity checks
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pull requests
bottleneck prevention:
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we average 10-20 per day
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means fast development
without sacrificing quality
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INTERNAL
TOOLING
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the bigger we get, the
more time we spend on
internal tools
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our dev tools are
prettier than most
for-profit products
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SUPPORT
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Chat
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TEAM
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it becomes
mathematically
improbable that this
time was wasted
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teams
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teams let you focus
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but teams shouldn’t
be about lock-in
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permissive repositories
permit people to float
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self-selecting teams
hugely important in crisis
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we still suck at teams
it’s important
to get right though
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how you work
is as important to me as
what your work is
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can this work for your
company?
maybe, maybe not.
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the point is to
reevaluate what is
important to you.
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thanks.
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@holman