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What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

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Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#61

Post by byyw13 »

spudlyo wrote: post #32

I left Stripe a little over 6 months ago to join an exciting startup with a number of my friends. What I miss most about working there is the culture of shipping. There are a number of 'shipped' email lists at Stripe where people can tout their accomplishments large and small. These lists are widely read and commented on, and folks put in a fair amount of effort making their "shipped" emails informative and entertain…

if you're at startup, you should feel the control to establish the culture you'd like to have. I'd say, introduce the emails, let the feedback be known. I think you have more control on your experience than you might think

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#62

Post by benatkin »

lstamour wrote: post #30
travisjungroth wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon doesn't have a river in their logo.

Well actually... https://www.freelogodesign.org/blog/2018/09/10/the-amazon-lo...

That has an interesting error in it:

"This is a good example of why it is import to have a logo that is versatile."

I wonder if the author was considering using the phrase "of import" [1] and decided to be less clever.

1: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/import third definition, import noun (IMPORTANCE)

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#64

Post by plausibilities »

rarecoil wrote: post #58
chapium wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everything is your job, how can you be measured by what is your job fairly?

I don't think that's the point of the statement. Facebook culture makes a similar statement: "Nothing at Facebook is someone else's problem." I don't take it to mean that you are supposed to be the Atlas of the organization, but rather that when you see problems and issues that might arise, you don't ignore them because it's "not my job" or "not my problem" - you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct peop…

>you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct people

This here is key.

There are plenty of seemingly-intelligent individuals out there who refuse to acknowledge gaps in their knowledge.

They instead favor suppression and/or deflection over escalation because their own fragile egos could not handle the fact.

Full ownership mentality tends to weed these people out.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#65

Post by foldr »

spudlyo wrote: post #32

I left Stripe a little over 6 months ago to join an exciting startup with a number of my friends. What I miss most about working there is the culture of shipping. There are a number of 'shipped' email lists at Stripe where people can tout their accomplishments large and small. These lists are widely read and commented on, and folks put in a fair amount of effort making their "shipped" emails informative and entertain…

Is this optional? I would personally have no interest in writing such emails - it's just more work.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#66

Post by jwagenet »

foldr wrote: post #65
spudlyo wrote: post #32

I left Stripe a little over 6 months ago to join an exciting startup with a number of my friends. What I miss most about working there is the culture of shipping. There are a number of 'shipped' email lists at Stripe where people can tout their accomplishments large and small. These lists are widely read and commented on, and folks put in a fair amount of effort making their "shipped" emails informative and entertain…

Is this optional? I would personally have no interest in writing such emails - it's just more work.

Presumably it's just a forum for validation. If sharing your success with your peers doesn't get you off you can forgo the email, but you might lose some exposure.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#67

Post by foldr »

jwagenet wrote: post #66
foldr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this optional? I would personally have no interest in writing such emails - it's just more work.

Presumably it's just a forum for validation. If sharing your success with your peers doesn't get you off you can forgo the email, but you might lose some exposure.

Yeah, that's what I mean. It feels like it's just forcing everyone to increase the amount of time they spend on self-promotion (even if it's theoretically "optional").

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#68

Post by singhrac »

spudlyo wrote: post #32

I left Stripe a little over 6 months ago to join an exciting startup with a number of my friends. What I miss most about working there is the culture of shipping. There are a number of 'shipped' email lists at Stripe where people can tout their accomplishments large and small. These lists are widely read and commented on, and folks put in a fair amount of effort making their "shipped" emails informative and entertain…

I really enjoyed that aspect too. I was an intern a few years ago, and at the end of my internship I sent out a 'shipped' email, with lots of positive feedback. It's easy to feel ignored as an intern, but Stripe at the time felt very cohesive.

In reply to foldr's comment, yes, they were totally optional (I can't imagine it's changed).

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#69

Post by chasely »

foldr wrote: post #67
jwagenet wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably it's just a forum for validation. If sharing your success with your peers doesn't get you off you can forgo the email, but you might lose some exposure.

Yeah, that's what I mean. It feels like it's just forcing everyone to increase the amount of time they spend on self-promotion (even if it's theoretically "optional").

Not ever seeing these emails, it depends on where you stand. I can see how it would benefit the organization to have people know what is being shipped in other areas of the org, and also provide valuable feedback loops from differing perspectives.

However if all the threads are just “great job on X!” I can see how that could be low-value self promotion.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#70

Post by jklinger410 »

rarecoil wrote: post #58
chapium wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everything is your job, how can you be measured by what is your job fairly?

I don't think that's the point of the statement. Facebook culture makes a similar statement: "Nothing at Facebook is someone else's problem." I don't take it to mean that you are supposed to be the Atlas of the organization, but rather that when you see problems and issues that might arise, you don't ignore them because it's "not my job" or "not my problem" - you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct peop…

>I don't take it to mean that you are supposed to be the Atlas of the organization, but rather that when you see problems and issues that might arise, you don't ignore them because it's "not my job" or "not my problem" - you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct people, and then go back to what else you have to do.

Trying to really educate around this at my workplace.

I call it "throwing your hands up." If you run into a problem, or notice that something isn't working, what-have-you, if you throw your hands up instead of working to fix it, or find the person who should fix it, you are on my shit list.

It's hard to explain this part of ownership. But it's very obvious when you see someone doing it. Their first response is often to say something like "not my job," and they often think that Extreme Ownership or Question Behind the Question mentality covers it, but after it all shakes out in the wash, it's actually the opposite.

Maybe people need to do a better job of explaining ownership up front, or choose different words. IDK

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