not to pick on you @alexanderbaruta -- i know it's not YOUR policy 😉 -- but this is a stupid myth.
monoculture during the early days is something you can GET AWAY with. it is a crutch, it may even be unavoidable, but i have seen no convincing evidence that it is desirable.
monoculture during the early days is something you can GET AWAY with. it is a crutch, it may even be unavoidable, but i have seen no convincing evidence that it is desirable.
this is not a thing i would ever have come out swinging on, or even thought to argue with til this exact moment, but i can now say with some authority that this widely held notion is very fucking stupid.
Caveats: yes, you should probably all speak the same language, and it helps to share a few cultural touchstones (Game of Thrones will do), maybe even a geographical location, as I wrote about in my piece on distributed teams.
(angel.co/blog/on-messin…)
(angel.co/blog/on-messin…)
More important caveat: yes, having a diverse team early on will hurt you IF YOU SUCK AT HIRING AND RUNNING DIVERSE TEAMS.
Yes, you will need to invest more earlier-on in things like levels, bands, inclusive job descriptions etc.
Yes, you will need to invest more earlier-on in things like levels, bands, inclusive job descriptions etc.
Yes, you will have to occasionally mediate feelings, or be told that you are doing something poorly and could be doing it better.
No, you may not able to work your team into the ground and rely on making them live under their desks to compensate for your shitty planning ability.
No, you may not able to work your team into the ground and rely on making them live under their desks to compensate for your shitty planning ability.
THESE ARE ALL GOOD THINGS AND YOU SHOULD DO THEM NOW
The way you need to construct a team, a company, an organization to make it diverse is the way you should be fucking doing it in the first place.
The way you need to construct a team, a company, an organization to make it diverse is the way you should be fucking doing it in the first place.
A diverse team is every bit as capable of caring passionately and working incredibly hard.
A fresh, motivated 35-40 hours of engineering a week will outperform a zombie 80 hours/week any fucking time. (And they'll do less stupid shit because they aren't a fucking monoculture.)
A fresh, motivated 35-40 hours of engineering a week will outperform a zombie 80 hours/week any fucking time. (And they'll do less stupid shit because they aren't a fucking monoculture.)
Now I get it. Maybe you have a friend group that consists of people who look just like you. So it seems unbelievably challenging learning to get along with other people. In this case, yes, it may be very hard for you to make the adjustment to ... having to care about them? 🤷♀️
Even still. That's an argument for starting *earlier*, not delaying as long as you possibly can. It's called an "investment", and it "amortizes" over time. The longer you wait, the more costly it will be.
Wait long enough and your company may literally never recover.
Wait long enough and your company may literally never recover.
Startups are notorious for being bad at things like planning, treating people well, etc. But it's not often they straight up broadcast 💁♀️"I don't know how to work with anybody but my frat bros"💁♀️
I guess we should all thank the ones who do, for saving the rest of us time.
I guess we should all thank the ones who do, for saving the rest of us time.
. o O ( you know what ELSE i could move faster without? paying taxes. payrolls. a significant other. calling my mom back. taking time off for holidays. listening to anyone else's opinions. standing up from my desk to go pee. eating or drinking but from a tube. skippin--
