Figuring out what your company is all about(joelonsoftware.com)
joelonsoftware.com
Figuring out what your company is all about
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/11/01.html
11 comments
This is a tangent but you might want to take a look at Hudson as a CI server; it's incredibly easy to set up, not at all intimidating, and very extensible.
Thanks! That looks like a very useful tool.
I sincerely hope you mean that the "bizarro-world" aspect of Fog Creek's products compared to TFS is that they actually are usable and work really easily. :)
CI is currently terrible. Anyone that can bring CI to the masses by making it easier to implement and use should make a killing.
Making a nice place to work was our primary objective.
Maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but I still have a tough time understanding any goal != "maximizing our customers' success".
I once went to a sales seminar for technical people and we had to introduce ourselves and describe what our companies did. The first 15 people described their products. Then on my turn, I said something like, "We provide our customers tools to help them succeed." The instructor remarked that I was the only one who mentioned "customers" in his introduction. I didn't even think about it at the time; that's just the way I was trained.
It took almost ten years, but I think we finally got the mission for the next ten nailed.
Good for you, Joel. In your business, I imagine it's a fine line between an employee and a customer because they're both programmers. I would expect that sooner or later, focus must revert to the customer.
Maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but I still have a tough time understanding any goal != "maximizing our customers' success".
I once went to a sales seminar for technical people and we had to introduce ourselves and describe what our companies did. The first 15 people described their products. Then on my turn, I said something like, "We provide our customers tools to help them succeed." The instructor remarked that I was the only one who mentioned "customers" in his introduction. I didn't even think about it at the time; that's just the way I was trained.
It took almost ten years, but I think we finally got the mission for the next ten nailed.
Good for you, Joel. In your business, I imagine it's a fine line between an employee and a customer because they're both programmers. I would expect that sooner or later, focus must revert to the customer.
"We provide our customers tools to help them succeed."
That seems like an overly general phrase. Using the generic 'customer' seems like a cop-out, since it feels like you haven't really asked yourself which market you're making your product for. "Help them succeed" implies to me that you haven't really figured out the tangible benefit to the customer, which in turn means that you're in a really weak sales position.
Let's say you worked for a company making pie chart software. That phrase could apply, or something more specific like "We provide middle-managers with pie chart software to help them impress their bosses".
A good sales pitch follows directly from an understanding of who you're selling to, what they want, and how your product gives it to them.
That seems like an overly general phrase. Using the generic 'customer' seems like a cop-out, since it feels like you haven't really asked yourself which market you're making your product for. "Help them succeed" implies to me that you haven't really figured out the tangible benefit to the customer, which in turn means that you're in a really weak sales position.
Let's say you worked for a company making pie chart software. That phrase could apply, or something more specific like "We provide middle-managers with pie chart software to help them impress their bosses".
A good sales pitch follows directly from an understanding of who you're selling to, what they want, and how your product gives it to them.
You can have great vision to make great products to help great customers be great at buying your great software.
If you don't attract top talent, you're not going to have great anything.
If you don't attract top talent, you're not going to have great anything.
Making a nice place to work can be a great motivation to start a company if you've just finished working somewhere shitty.
The new goal, helping customers be awesome, is directly related to maximising customer success - no?
The new goal, helping customers be awesome, is directly related to maximising customer success - no?
Almost every software job in the city was terrible.
You had a choice of which kind of terrible.
Want to wear a suit and work long hours under crummy
conditions? Take a job at a bank.
This is what I was told: "We're in business to stay in business."
That's exactly the sort of place I wouldn't want to be. The best companies have a mission that's far beyond mere survival. That mission is why they stay ahead of their competition.
Companies that look at their employees as "heads" or "resources" and look at their customers as nothing more than revenue sources inevitably fall behind. When you operate that way your most talented workers don't give their best and many of them eventually leave, and you don't produce the best products (because you simply don't care). When a competitor who does care comes along they eat your lunch, because their more efficient and put out better products.
Rats, clicked but hit the wrong arrow by accident. My apologies.
Though I'm a wage slave, my goal is to make myself superfluous. When I found a company, that will also be my goal: build and deliver a product, until there is nothing I can or want to add anymore.
Good luck to him. That's a crowded market filled with strong open source alternatives.
Good point. But on the other hand, companies like JetBrains, Atlassian, Unfuddle, GitHub, BitBucket are still around making good money.
That's an awesome article.
That's funny, I always thought fogcreek was about making loads of money by selling over-priced and over-hyped web apps.
I can't really figure out why, but something about Joel bothers me when I read/watch his stuff. Does anyone have a similar experience? I can't think of any good reason why this would be the case, he is obviously a smart guy, StackOverflow is brilliant. Maybe it's the tone of how he writes stuff or maybe it's because he seems to be a Microsoft sympathizer, neither of which are good reasons.
It's totally irrational but I get that gut feeling a lot with him. Am I the only one? Any other ideas why?
It's totally irrational but I get that gut feeling a lot with him. Am I the only one? Any other ideas why?
I like Joel, and hes made a nice place to work...
but, its _too_ nice : I need the anarchy of a startup.
The atomic moments of xen calm are appreciated more against a backdrop of reality-chaos-screaming-towards-outrageously-impossible-product-deadline.
but, its _too_ nice : I need the anarchy of a startup.
The atomic moments of xen calm are appreciated more against a backdrop of reality-chaos-screaming-towards-outrageously-impossible-product-deadline.
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I read his stuff occasionally and appreciate it when he makes a good point, which he does sometimes. At the same time, I feel a consistent smugness in what he writes. It's messages like "every other job in the city sucked" (and the implication that they still do) versus "FogBuz rocks", and "I don't want to live in 'lesser cities' [than New York]".()
There's also a lack of substance to much of his writing. Aeron chairs are what makes FogBuz great? Really? That's a pretty low bar to match. To me, a great company has purpose, vision, and smart-but-zero-ego people who enjoy working together to produce something that will actually make a difference in the world. Give me those things and I'll sit on a milk crate.
() (And, for the record, I live in NYC myself and think it's a pretty awesome city.)
There's also a lack of substance to much of his writing. Aeron chairs are what makes FogBuz great? Really? That's a pretty low bar to match. To me, a great company has purpose, vision, and smart-but-zero-ego people who enjoy working together to produce something that will actually make a difference in the world. Give me those things and I'll sit on a milk crate.
() (And, for the record, I live in NYC myself and think it's a pretty awesome city.)
I have an idea, but I won't mention it. Anyways, I really like the guy and listen/read him every chance I get. Thanks Joel.
Hahaha Joel how about a start up discount for your make better software training. $1595 for four videos is a nice idea but too rich for my blood.
My uninformed prediction of what's next: a hosted CI service like CruiseControl or TeamCity, both of which are useful (I would say indispensable) but can be intimidating to set up and start using.