Leadership

Work hours and productivity have limited correlation

Work-life balance at a startup

One of the most interesting things I’ve encountered when moving to NYC and running a company there is the long hours people tend to work while not being 100% productive. It is pretty normal to take a “long” lunch and go for a haircut. People manage their private affairs like doctor’s appointments while at work. […]

A warning sign in an organization

Company or office politics are poison

A big threat to any company culture is politics. Be wary of an organization which is run by politics. I’ve seen too many times in my life and it is really a good indicator of problems down the road whether it is in your own organization, with a major supplier or a major customer. Politics […]

Fault-tolerant while high-achieving company culture

High standards but forgiving

A culture of a company consists of a few fundamental values which the staff of a company holds dear. Fast-growing companies like startups are very conscious of this aspect of running the company. One of my favorite values I have been championing in the last few years is high standards while forgiving. With high standards […]
Culture starts at the top

Rarely bottom up

Culture starts at the top

I hear myself repeating this a lot lately so I’ll make my life easier to write it up in a post. If you are [...]
The path is never straight

Keep your eye on the prize

The path is never straight

One of the things, I’ve learned with running startups is that the path to any strategic goal is never [...]
Cadence

The heartbeat of a company

Cadence

If you release products, it’s good to have a cadence in your company. The cadence is a regular interval to [...]
Separation of responsibilities

Growing your startup

Separation of responsibilities

One of the biggest challenges in a fast-growing company is that you’re in a constant mode of re-organization [...]
Celebrate little successes

Take a moment, recharge and move on

Celebrate little successes

When you are in the middle of a project or starting/growing a company, you are laser-focused on the end goal. Every [...]

Corporate-driven open source communities

Slow communities, fast companies

I wrote this when the news came out that Microsoft was adopting Chromium for their new browser. Iā€™m always fascinated by how groups of people organize themselves to get things done. There are many types of organizations, but here I would like to focus on companies and communities. Everyone understands what I mean with companies, […]

Hey, I followed the rules! What more do you expect from me?

Corporate rules and rigidness

This post is from the “attic”. I wrote it a few years ago. When I was speaking to employees of a large corporate I was doing business with a few years go, they talk about the company as an external thing. As if they cannot control it by themselves. There is a certain feeling of […]