9-bits

Here’s a nice look at how several companies are learning to be family friendly. I’m especially happy with this one as the first two pictures are of the Wildbit office. One of our founders, Natalie, shares some of the thinking behind the space and the importance of children being welcomed in the space.

(She followed up with an expanded post on our site. The paragraphs of mine were written weeks ago, but it’s telling how my thoughts below match the outline of Natalie’s post.)

What’s more, this is important for the remote team as well. How do companies make remote positions more welcoming to the family life? By allowing flexibility. I’m blessed to be able to adjust the hours of my day when the need arises (doctor appointments, school events, etc). On top of that, the team stresses firm 40 hour work weeks.

This is all possible because Wildbit has cultivated an environment that puts people first, tasks second. Both are important, but when employers forget the former, the latter is always heavily affected. This comes through in yet another post, Putting Unicorns Through the Meat Grinder:

Natalie told me recently that the real product of Wildbit is not Beanstalk, Postmark or DeployBot—it’s their team. The software they sell is just a byproduct of the team that they’ve compiled.“

I can’t tell you how thankful I am for working for a company like this!

Interesting insight into what Basecamp offers their employees. If you’ve worked for a SaaS company or are familiar with the industry, a lot of the benefits have become common. Free equipment, on-premise snacks and drinks, perhaps a gym allowance, in-house massages. All the books from Amazon you can ask for. Shares!

What’s clear in this article is that Basecamp offers quite a few more benefits than many established SaaS companies do. It’s certainly more than most startups. I’ve had the blessing of working for three SaaS companies, two of which come close to what’s listed here. But are benefits enough?

Well, they certainly help. But I’d venture to say that without finding meaning in your work, the benefits can be hollow (something I shared in this newsletter’s first run). Not everyone has to “do what you love”, but you’ll be far happier if you find meaning and fulfillment in your vocation.

The benefits can help keep you around, but it’s the work that should get you excited to get out of bed each day.

A big reason why Deep Work on writing in that vein resounds with me has been a shift in our work culture. We can throw terms like “work culture” around easily, but perhaps we don’t fully grasp the intended meaning with verbiage of this nature. Let me attempt to give some concrete examples.

There are various activities I participate in each week. I’m reading or writing to Honey, our team’s internal documentation tool (think Intranet). I might respond to customer’s over email, or in live chat. I spend time chatting with a group of teammates in Slack discussing new features or a targeted promotion. Or I may have a private conversation with a colleague where we discuss strategy. Add in a small bit of Twitter and email in general.

Any one of those activities on its own is fine. Pleasurable even. They give me satisfaction. But when I have those days where two or more of those activities are happening simultaneously, or in rapid fire succession, one after another … this is where the term “stress inducing” fits nicely.

I find two issues in my life because of our modern environment. First, all that discussion, thinking, and strategizing leads to one thing: the need to act. But how can I suddenly slip into a state where I can focus on a single task for an extended period of time?

Second, the type of interactions we have feel as if they require an immediate reaction on my part. I might be drafting an internal post to my team outlining the results of recent initiative, when suddenly a discussion begins on Slack that pertains to an area related to my responsibilities. Without my participation, the conversation could be missing some key context (not always true, but it always feels that way). Shortly after, a customer comes into chat needing help.

Before you know it, my breathing is shallow and I feel a keen sense of urgency as I try to keep up and contribute to multiple conversations. The little speech bubbles or Slack messages that so-and-so is typing turn this into a game, where I have to type faster, faster, or be left behind …

I may be exaggerating slightly, but I do have days like this. And all of the above is simply the regular pulse of conducting business as one small software team. And yet I see people mentioning they’re in 15 different Slack groups. I can’t help but ask myself if we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. Is replacing email with instant messaging the smart move?

I don’t think so. All these types of tools have their place, but with limits. And the backlash has begun. People are sharing their break up letters. People are asking why do you like Slack? As Cal Newport alludes to in Deep Work, it seems as if there’s a shift in thinking and people are beginning to address the issues of our connected society. And to desire to have the ability to focus on big things. Important things.

I’m not anti-Slack. I’ve been a staunch advocate helping my last two places of employment move to it from (what I consider) lesser options (Hipchat and Skype). But Slack is just a tool. What’s more important are the expectations you set as a team and the culture of communication.