keeping your company a*hole-free
DESCRIPTION
Adapted from a talk Klaas Kersting (the CEO of flaregames) held at HackFwd's Build 0.10 event in Berlin.TRANSCRIPT
Keeping a company asshole-free!
[Klaas Kersting, CEO, flaregames]
All content in this presentation © flaregames GmbH
Who‘s talking?
Some context about Klaas
And flaregames is…… a focused team of industry veterans and fresh talent.
… creative, chaotic, sometimes loud, but always communicative, very transparent und approachable.
… 35 dedicated people with a common goal.
We create mobile games:… 2 games out, 4 in production, more to come.
… free to play, high production value, made with passion
WORK IN PROGRESS
Why asshole-free?
We can‘t all be nice guys all the time, can‘t we?
Well, there seems to be…
…a market for asshole counter-measures
Surrounded by jerks!
Why be asshole-free?I know any number of
successful assholes.
Why be asshole-free?I know any number of
successful assholes.
In short: assholes lower the output of quality product of a company. Look:
Boss
Dev PR IT
Office Product
In a big company, a single asshole may easily be ignored (except in his dept).
Boss
Dev PR IT
Office Product
Product
Dev
Mkt
IT
In a startup, everything is interdependent.A single asshole may cause much harm.
Product
Dev
Mkt
IT
Told you. Broken.
Who‘s an asshole?
Sutton defined the dirty dozen of unpleasant behaviours:
The list was compiled mostly with mobbing in mind.
Who else?But there‘s more, far more types of asshole:
The Exploiter (“can you do it for me?”)
The Ego (“I made this! Look! Look! Me! Me!”)
The Suit (“let’s have meeting first”)
The gossiper (“did you hear, X said…”)
The Black Hole (“Huh? Did I not tell you that?”)
Et cetera.
How to avoid them?
1. Don‘t hire them in the first place2. Create an atmosphere that‘s asshole-toxic
3. Don‘t be one yourself (it‘ll rub off)
Scare them off:
flaregames‘ recruiting formula:personality is worth more than skill
Recognize them early:
1. they badmouth2. they drain energy
3. they say I a lot4. they get angry easily
5. they don‘t take critizism well
Hire carefully
This is how we hire somebody:
1. Meet her informally, for a beer 2. Meet her formally in the office
3. Give her a very hard task to perform4. Have her present the results before the task
5. Have the team vote on her
Think about the atmosphere
1. Be open, always2. Don‘t reward bootlicking
3. Give people a chance to speak up4. Don‘t incentize with money
5. Don‘t build circles („us“ vs. „them“)
Questions, please
Contact us!
flaregames GmbH, Kaiserstr. 146-148, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germanyflaregames.com | twitter.com/flaregames | facebook.com/[email protected]
Klaas Kersting, FounderCEO