Untellectual Property: Profit and happiness, part 1: Embracing the hacker ethos

I was browsing through the blogs a while back and happened to click on a Six Apart Jobs banner. Looking through the available positions, I noticed an interesting line in their job descriptions:

Every Wednesday is a hackathon: free breakfast, lunch and dinner, no meetings, no interruptions, guaranteed--and the best hacks get shipped

I think in that one line, they show pretty clearly that they've understood something pretty crucial about the hacker ethos and what differentiates hackers from drones: the innate will and curiosity to invest time in their own ability to do things better. That reminded me of the model used by Google that I've always thought was pretty clever. As summarized by Wikipedia:

All Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time (one day per week) on projects that interest them. Some of Google's newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavors.

However, when I tried to search the Google Job listings I didn't see it mentioned in any of the benefits, so I'm not sure if the 20% rule actually applies anymore. Speaking of Google's benefits, even if that isn't included it is indeed crafted to be a true hacker heaven - if you actually are a hacker, that is.

Integrators and segmentors

Researching this a bit further I came by an interesting article about the work-slash-home environment Google and others are creating with these perks that might suit some people while causing discomfort in others. The article defines two types of people:

Integrators, people for whom work life and home life have little distinction
Segmentors, people who like to maintain distinct walls between work and home

I admit that I represent the integrators myself to the extent that I never felt comfortable working at a nine-to-five job at a large company, even though the work itself was pretty nice. I think it might have something to do with my parents being entrepreneurs and work being present at all times, leaving a heritage of Lutheran work ethic. Could be worse.

What's slightly alarming though is that I recognize that I can get pretty annoyed when dealing someone with more segmentor approach to life, someone that actually goes home and has an actual life. Probably hobbies too. Being always at work has always seemed like a norm to me (even when I wasn't being self employed), and it's sometimes hard to see things being any other way.

The hacker gene

So, where I see hackers and drones, the researchers see integrators and segmentors. I'm not quite sure that the line can be drawn that directly, but there are some similarities. The whole approach of the article seems to be more company oriented, trying to examine people as a group from the perspective of the company, whereas my view is more about the individual person. The article quotes David Sirota, co-author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want:

"The key question in organizations is not the typical one -- how do you motivate people or engage people?" he explains. "It's how do you keep management from destroying motivation?"

This quote practically begs to introduce a third management category of tormentors to the mix, but in all fairness I do agree with that quote. Companies shouldn't try too much. To me it seems that given the right mix of integrators (or hackers) the workplace has the tendency of forming that environment or atmosphere by itself, even (and sometimes especially) as a bit of a forbidden fruit. Companies can't create that atmosphere, people can. Companies can only nurture it, carefully.

But is it really even about the perks in the end? I've been in a company that had quite substantial benefits, especially for Finland (free drinks, weekly breakfast, friday bar, massages and all that) and even after those perks where taken away or reduced significantly the atmosphere was still there. Hell, even after the company went bankrupt and people scattered around the atmosphere is still there, living online.

Naturally, not all endorsed that relaxed atmosphere for different reasons and some even resented it as unprofessional. In hindsight, that might well be true for a company trying hard to be a respectable enterprise IT consultant. Then again, having a kid waiting at home does quite effectively ”segmentorize” even the most devoted integrator.

Meaning of Life?

During the years, I've had the mandatory thoughts about the whole meaning of life. Pompous, I know. So far, I've mostly come to the conclusion that the meaning of life is found in learning, discovering and especially creating new things.

In a way, it could be that the whole "integrator optimized workplace" is trying to offer some kind of meaning of life (or a suitable substitute) for people that actually find it in similar things already. Learning. Discovering. Creating. I've sometimes said that it's funny that I get paid to do things that I'd do for free, and even if in reality it might be somewhat exaggerated it does have the grain of truth in it.

Wrapping up and coming back to the original concept of hackathons and 20% time, I'm not really sure how I would react to something like that. In a way it feels a bit forced, like creativity could be turned on at will every Wednesday when it's profitable for the evil overlords. I think it has to feel a bit forbidden or outside the normal environment, happen by accident instead of a quarterly plan.

It is probable that at least something usable (and indeed, profitable) will come out of that creative process, but trying to plan for it or trying to productize it is really hard - if at all possible. Then again, successful business is rarely about easy things, just ask Google.

This is a part of a collection of articles: Profit and happiness

Comments

I disagree with the implication that integrator == hacker, segmenter == drone. I segment my life: work is the hacking I do for money, home life is the hacking I do for fun :-) So maybe I do other stuff at home too, but the point stands.

If I was an entrepreneur I suppose it might be different, but hacking on different stuff at home than at work is what keeps me sane and lets me learn more new stuff than I would at work.

Posted by: Juri Pakaste | 11/29/2007 at 02:33 PM