Two Stories

Abstract

I want to tell you two stories from my career that I think are classic illustrations of the difference between tech companies that are well-managed and tech companies that are disasters. It comes down to the difference between trusting employees and letting them get things done, versus treating them like burger-flippers who need to be monitored and controlled every minute, lest they wander off and sabotage everything.

Some time in late 1999, Dave Winer opened up an online service called EditThisPage.com and invited people to create their own websites using the same weblog format as he had established with his own site, Scripting News. Coincidentally, I was really pissed off by my experience working at a company with great talent being squandered by ghastly hit-and-run management (definition: intense periods of micromanagement followed by long periods of complete neglect). Thus I wrote this classic Joel rant in the grand tradition of bloggers: a tale of personal bitterness disguised as business management advice.

In those days, thankfully, I had no readers whatsoever, so I could get away with naming names and even risk offending Seattle-area billionaires who have individual cars worth more than all my bank accounts and retirement funds put together. Ah, the golden days.