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Scaling Happiness
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Ted Nyman
January 31, 2013
Technology
19
2.3k
Scaling Happiness
Why is GitHub structured the way it is?
Ted Nyman
January 31, 2013
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Transcript
scaling happiness Ted Nyman Engineer at GitHub @tnm
Most working life is inauthentic
Hierarchy creates inauthentic relationships
Without authenticity we become alienated “Work is a kind of
vacuum, an emptiness, where I just switch off everything except the scant intelligence necessary to keep me going.”
Perks are weak substitutes for an authentic working life
Plato on Love
Plato was Wrong
I’ll never quit because X perk is just so good
“ ”
A better X will appear, and they are gone
You can’t truly make people happy with bread and circuses
“How little our careers express what lies in us, and yet how much time they take up”
You can’t build culture with words “How little our careers
express what lies in us, and yet how much time they take up”
Token ‘freedom gestures’ are just not enough “How little our
careers express what lies in us, and yet how much time they take up”
The real way is organizational structure
The lack of formal managers creates GitHub’s working culture
Cultural and technological adaptations grow naturally from this
Create the structure and let the culture form. The culture
then reinforces the structure.
Earthly software craft paradise
Nothing Actually Scales
None
Here’s what we actually do
Accept awkwardness
Embrace disorder
Let ‘teams’ form naturally
Propagate culture bottom-up
Technology creates order when needed
You can’t make anyone do anything
Consistency comes from libraries
You have to accept mistakes
Authenticity and autonomy are priceless
MOST IMPORTANT (META) QUESTION
Who sets these ‘policies’?
Everyone
Everyone Culture
Everyone Culture Structure