So it really seems like I am starting a business with a bunch of beautiful strangers. What a fantastic feeling! The kind and sometimes weird interactions I had with you over the past two weeks inspired me to get to work early every morning. And now that we are going to work together, we need to figure out how to do it.
Guiding principles a.k.a. the catalogue of big words 🧐
Obviously, I can't impose any rules on you, and we should always be rational and flexible. So these are not rules for you, but my personal commitments. I will try to follow them and I'd be honoured if you'd take them as helpful advice.
People first
A group of smart, well-meaning people with a shared goal can either solve or work around almost any problem they face. So the first order of business is to gather a number of people like that: smart, kind, and honestly caring for fairness and freedom. I'm happy to say that we are making some rapid progress.
Kindness and support
Look for opportunities to help others succeed in what they are doing. Be honest in your feedback, but always aim to help instead of proving yourself right. If you suspect that someone is playing for power, just leave them alone.
Empiricism
Don't guess or speculate what's good. Experiment and find out. And keep communicating, so others can learn too!
Don't work alone
Whatever you do for us, find at least one other person that will work on this with you. If you have an idea, write about it and ask for help implementing it. Sometimes even the best of us have bad ideas. If nobody volunteers to help, maybe it's a signal that the idea is not so good?
On the other hand...
It's usually better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission
If you found a co-worker for a given activity, then the two of you just go for it strong! Show, don't tell. Keep reporting on your progress and ask for help if needed, but don't involve other people in long, speculative discussion. It's ok to fail, as long as we learn from it... and nobody is harmed.
Gradualism
Try to structure your work in a way that brings value as soon as possible. Avoid grand openings. For example, say that you are working on a campaign website. Publish it on the first day of your work, even if it's just a few crappy bullet points. This will bring various benefits:
- The imperfections will motivate you to keep improving it.
- You will get feedback early on.
- Maybe we can already use it to some extent. Imperfect is often better than nothing.
- It will be easier to hand over if you need to step down. People will already be familiar with your thing.
When you begin your work day, think how by the end of this day you can make a small improvement to what we have so far. Soon enough it will be awesome!