I think in general people are supposed to be discreet about what happens in board meetings, but I want to share a little view into the @StackOverflow board meeting we had today, if you’ll all indulge.
This was a big day for the team; among other major work, Stack Overflow for Teams launched. (It’s an amazing tool! You should check it out: stackoverflow.com/teams ) That’s years in the making, and super valuable. I think it’ll become indispensable in the way that Slack has.
But you know what we closed the board meeting with? @spolsky speaking, passionately and at length, about why Stack Overflow exists in the first place, and how its mission isn’t achieved unless it’s accessible and inclusive to all. SO exists to give all people access to knowledge.
This is far from our first board-level conversation about how to make SO more inclusive — the effort has been going on for years. But today had real substance & reflection about how the culture of the company has to evolve, to support the culture of the community evolving.
That renewed commitment of time, energy & resources is fully in keeping with the values of what Stack Overflow has always been. But be clear: there’s no doubt, no question that the urgency has been raised by passionate, effective advocates demanding change.
There’s a lot more I can say about this (and, uh… I’m not 100% sure what I’m supposed to say publicly?), but I wanted to highlight some key points. First, in healthy company cultures, criticism *works*. It will take time to see the full results & effects, but you were heard.
Second, I know even those who haven’t felt SO was exclusionary to them know the value of being able to share knowledge with everyone. The most important values resonate with almost *everyone*. “Works for me” is not a valid resolution to a bug report.
And finally, it’s this: I see so, so much wrong in tech. I’ve even been complicit in some of it over the years. But I still believe we can push to fix things, we can change & sometimes we can win when we do. I’ve seen it. Keep pushing.
