First thing out of the way. Inspiration for this post is a profoundly insightful podcast series "Masters of Scale" - thematically arranged Cliff notes for deep case studies and internal thought systems of one quirky Silicon Valley VC land participant. The "why" behind each assertion/episode is what this podcast is golden for. I inhaled the series and recommend same for you.
Now, back to company culture...
When your typical "Static vs Dynamic" programming language conversation happens, inevitably the "Static" camp will drag in "it prevents some bugs" argument and, at that point, I try to pivot with something like "In terms of bug-squashing, static typing is like crutches for your most disabled / feeble developers and effectively shackles for true star developers. It's a very costly solution for 10% of your problems. Instead of crutches, I say we all get wings!"
"Static vs. Dynamic" is just an analogy to a similar discussion of leadership: "Control vs. Context." That comparison is famously referred to in Netflix's (older) Culture Deck - a declaration of corporate cultural imperatives that separates A-grade technology companies from B-grade ones, with the lever point being purposefully building organization such that you repulse people who would normally lean on organizational crutches. For an echo of that split check out "Innovation = Managed Chaos" episode of Masters of Scale that centers on Google's culture.
So, about "Crutches/Shackles vs. Wings/Jetpacks" cultural split:
While whole-heartedly endorsing (and preaching) the "Wings/Jetpacks/Pro-Sports-Team" approach (and feeling rather at-home and successful in these types of organizations), cannot help but reflect on how detrimental the Crutches/Shackles vs. Wings/Jetpacks chasm can be to my industry as a whole.
I observed that passion, aspiration and perseverance are not as much a natural trait, as much as an infection. I have many times observed infecting others with these, whether it's my own kids, fresh graduates from Hack Reactor, or traumatized coders. I have seen people pick up the sparkle in the eye just due to coming in contact with an infectious star engineer.
I had a dreadful choice recently. I had an opportunity to contribute materially to a team that was treated more with "crutches and shackles" than "wings and jetpacks." After many years of playing on tremendously empowered teams, I consciously cherished an opportunity to (re)infect these solid but somewhat beat up engineers with sparkle, challenge, process know-how I picked up on the way there. Alas, (besides other reasons) after seeing how large the challenge of ridding that organization of "crutches and shackles" habit would be, I aimed for another empowered team.
What I dread is observed stratification of quality of technology organizations along the cultural camps that appear more entrenched. I lament having a choice and seeing my less infected peers in the same industry stay on the other side of the cultural divide, drifting into "homogeneously-dreary software engineering sweatshop" territory. But, most of all, I dread not doing enough to spread the gospel of "wings and jetpacks." Hence this post and future posts highlighting the thought leaders for empowered workplace.
Call to action time:
While, granted, not all organizations can be pro sports teams (after all, Netflix needs to send its severance recipients somewhere), hope more corporate leaders practice people empowerment. You can squeeze more value out of creative types this way, and, as a side effect, seed junior rocket scientists. Per my experience, a workplace that is interested in making people grow (and is ok with people outgrow the org) will have much easier time hiring needed talent. You'll have much less people leave than you think and for everyone who leaves there will be a line of go-getters who heard good things about you.
Many Pro Sports Teams, like Netflix, are already doing a lot in allowing their star engineers infect wider community with grander ideas by sending people to meetups, conferences and sharing open sources projects. What I would like to happen is the Invention Assignment Agreement cabal to be relaxed. I have seen pretty nuts "we own your first-born baby" agreements and no crafty community-minded engineer with a brain will enter into one or will do anything community-worthy while under one. You push the guys and girls who cherish desire to write things "on the side" into dreary coding shops. You lose out on real talent that I saw stay on the margin. Even with California's "on own time and equipment" law, "if invention does not relate to employer's business" does not help much if you are under Google or Amazon (since there is nothing that you can invent on your own time, that these companies are not in business of).
"Wings and Jetpacks" corporate culture is definitely a good step forward. Netflix-like per-individual to-market compensation is an awesome way to cleanse the team of dead weight. Openly encouraging employees to self-optimize in pursuit of organizational win is an awesome formula. Let's see if we can optimize and scale this formula to help more of us.