Classic Joel
This is the second post I've written in a week's time about Joel Spolsky. I can hear the whispers now: "Fanboy... fanboy..." Whatever.
I found a big archive of his old posts the other day, and I've been reading them.
This guy gets it.
He talks about technical stuff, how to hire people, what kind of environment and tools to provide for them, what to expect of them in return, how to compensate them, how to grow a company so it lasts, how money and toys aren't the prime motivators for people (if you can provide them with other things to hang on to), "Architecture Astronauts", and on, and on, and on. The stuff makes sense, too.
I want to live on same planet as this guy. Seriously. I live on a toally different planet right now. Sitting in a half-height cubicle in Dockers, surrounded by hostile, thin-skinned, largely incompetent assclowns and blowhards, mired in ill-conceived/ill-defined projects that never end, provided with crappy tools that cost an arm and a leg and don't work, and being continually lectured on The Company Way, it's easy to get annoyed and start thinking everything sucks. Some days, going through the mental process of trying to come up with a way to tolerate the annoyances without going insane, you can actually feel yourself getting dumber. "Eh... Maybe this isn't so bad.... Maybe I'm just being... you know... not good... attitude... duuuuuuuuuuuuuuh."
Reading this stuff is a breath of fresh air. It gets me kind of fired up, actually. Just knowing that someone out there has a grasp of how things ought to be is encouraging.
One thing I did find kind of amusing was a series of posts about how Fog Creek Software (Joel's company) plans to compensate employees, what their benefits are going to be, how they'll all have offices with doors, all situated in a bustling metropolitan area. It all sounds great. At the end, it says "when we are able to afford it." I hope they can someday. I hope they become gigantic and buy up all the insurance companies in the world. Of course, they wouldn't be cool then.
I found a big archive of his old posts the other day, and I've been reading them.
This guy gets it.
He talks about technical stuff, how to hire people, what kind of environment and tools to provide for them, what to expect of them in return, how to compensate them, how to grow a company so it lasts, how money and toys aren't the prime motivators for people (if you can provide them with other things to hang on to), "Architecture Astronauts", and on, and on, and on. The stuff makes sense, too.
I want to live on same planet as this guy. Seriously. I live on a toally different planet right now. Sitting in a half-height cubicle in Dockers, surrounded by hostile, thin-skinned, largely incompetent assclowns and blowhards, mired in ill-conceived/ill-defined projects that never end, provided with crappy tools that cost an arm and a leg and don't work, and being continually lectured on The Company Way, it's easy to get annoyed and start thinking everything sucks. Some days, going through the mental process of trying to come up with a way to tolerate the annoyances without going insane, you can actually feel yourself getting dumber. "Eh... Maybe this isn't so bad.... Maybe I'm just being... you know... not good... attitude... duuuuuuuuuuuuuuh."
Reading this stuff is a breath of fresh air. It gets me kind of fired up, actually. Just knowing that someone out there has a grasp of how things ought to be is encouraging.
One thing I did find kind of amusing was a series of posts about how Fog Creek Software (Joel's company) plans to compensate employees, what their benefits are going to be, how they'll all have offices with doors, all situated in a bustling metropolitan area. It all sounds great. At the end, it says "when we are able to afford it." I hope they can someday. I hope they become gigantic and buy up all the insurance companies in the world. Of course, they wouldn't be cool then.
posted by Kelly @ 10:29 PM
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