Creating a Strong Geek Culture

Diane Tate, MozillaForward 3 Web Technology Summit

The developers’ employment is a constant journey that’s going somewhere, rather than a Sisyphean situation where they’re running out the clock until retirement.

-- Erik Dietrich

Creating

Strong

Geek

Culture Creating

Strong

Geek

Culture

Parsing

Geek

(Strong)Culture● Purpose (Mission)

● Values

● Protocols

● (Purpose, Autonomy & Mastery)

Creating

● Start early: hire for shared values

● Reward the right behaviors○ Avoid the Wake

○ Consequences

● Be transparent about processes &

choices

● Remove obstacles from GSD

● Distribute the relationships

Bonus Slide: Indicators

● Meetings: effective & short or…

● Technical debt

○ “An energy vampire for engineers.” - Laura

Thomson

● Hours worked

● Do not go by:○ Churn/retention

Reminder for the Journey

“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate

result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will

be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter

— for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for

those who are to come, and point the way. He lives and

labors and hopes.”

– Nikola Tesla

What to do ● http://www.daedtech.com/how-to-keep-your-best-

programmers ● https://speakerdeck.com/lauraxt/engineering-

happiness ● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc ● https://www.workrules.net/

What to avoid● http://jasonevanish.com/2014/06/11/10-common-

ways-to-lose-good-employees/

http://diane.bz * diane@mozilla.com * @tbiz

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