Scaling Happiness

Why is GitHub structured the way it is?

Transcript

1. scaling
   happiness
   Ted Nyman
   Engineer at GitHub
   @tnm
   

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2. Most working
   life is
   inauthentic
   

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3. Hierarchy
   creates
   inauthentic
   relationships
   

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4. 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.”
   

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5. Perks are weak
   substitutes for
   an authentic
   working life
   

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6. Plato on Love
   

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7. Plato was Wrong
   

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8. I’ll never quit
   because X perk
   is just so good
   “
   ”
   

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9. A better X will
   appear, and
   they are gone
   

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10. 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”
    

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11. You can’t build
    culture with words
    “How little our careers express
    what lies in us, and yet how
    much time they take up”
    

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12. Token ‘freedom
    gestures’ are just not
    enough
    “How little our careers express
    what lies in us, and yet how
    much time they take up”
    

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13. The real way is
    organizational
    structure
    

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14. The lack of formal
    managers creates
    GitHub’s working
    culture
    

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15. Cultural and
    technological
    adaptations grow
    naturally from this
    

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16. Create the structure
    and let the culture
    form. The culture
    then reinforces the
    structure.
    

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17. Earthly
    software
    craft
    paradise
    

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18. Nothing
    Actually
    Scales
    

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20. Here’s what we
    actually do
    

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21. Accept
    awkwardness
    

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22. Embrace
    disorder
    

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23. Let ‘teams’
    form naturally
    

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24. Propagate
    culture
    bottom-up
    

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25. Technology
    creates order
    when needed
    

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26. You can’t make
    anyone do
    anything
    

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27. Consistency
    comes from
    libraries
    

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28. You have to
    accept
    mistakes
    

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29. Authenticity
    and autonomy
    are priceless
    

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30. MOST
    IMPORTANT
    (META)
    QUESTION
    

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31. Who sets these
    ‘policies’?
    

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32. Everyone
    

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33. Everyone
    Culture
    

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34. Everyone
    Culture
    Structure
    

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