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Email transparency

stripe.com

21–30 of 66 posts

Re: Email transparency

#21
post #3

I've known companies that had pretty good email policies....until they got sued and every email debate was turned into the evidence that they knew X or considered Y or thought about Z and were therefore guilty. :-(

I would imagine that this open email policy actually reduces the amount of lawsuit-relevant emails in one sense: If you want to talk about something sensitive or private you would probably pick up the phone or walk over to the person, knowing an email is shared with the entire company.

Shhhh.

Re: Email transparency

#22

"We use Gmail for email and Google Groups for lists." "What we have today works pretty well for our current size—around 45 people." So if I can manage to get the Google authentication credentials for just one of Stripe's 45 employees, I can get access to the vast majority of Stripe's email? I hope they require two factor authentication.

Yes, we do require two factor auth, and we're very stringent about laptop security generally. We're pretty cognizant that, even at a less open company, compromising any employee can generally be used to obtain a surprising amount of sensitive company information.

Re: Email transparency

#23
This is an interesting tactic. I think it can work well for companies up to a certain size, at which point new hires start getting auto added to certain lists and you start to have enterprise email issues (I think Stripe will manage to avoid this fate though) ;)

This is a timely article for me though. We actually did a Show HN earlier today for a product (lightermail.com) whose ideal use is exactly this scenario. It allows people to control the flow of email from specific senders or domains. We see it being ideal for companies who have these sort of mailing lists, because it allows employees to subscribe to all the relevant lists without getting distracted by all the associated email throughout the day.

Good luck with your experiment! It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Re: Email transparency

#24
post #17
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a real risk. One company I worked for had me modify already sent and archived emails and Yahoo Messenger logs to remove incriminating evidence in preparation for an expected unfair dismissal trial. And also conveniently 'lose' the backup tapes for the period where the original data existed. Thankfully it was settled out of court. Mind you, the dishonesty was rife there. The boss had me scan in his cellphone b…

> but payment alleviates conscience. That's disgusting.

"That's disgusting."

I agree. This was years ago - I wouldn't do it now as I have financial freedom and (probably) a higher standard of morals. But back then, keeping my employers satisfied so my sole source of income was safe, was a large motivator.

Re: Email transparency

#25
post #20
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a real risk. One company I worked for had me modify already sent and archived emails and Yahoo Messenger logs to remove incriminating evidence in preparation for an expected unfair dismissal trial. And also conveniently 'lose' the backup tapes for the period where the original data existed. Thankfully it was settled out of court. Mind you, the dishonesty was rife there. The boss had me scan in his cellphone b…

Err, IANAL, but you may have committed a crime by tampering with evidence even though it was a civil case.

Quite probably. I was most relieved when it wasn't taken to court.

Re: Email transparency

#27

Why not use Yammer or similar? We are trying G+ for business apps. It's ok.

We've tried Yammer, and it's never really taken off. The nice thing about just copying an email to a list is the barrier to entry is so low -- the sender doesn't have to open a new tab, or create any additional content.

Re: Email transparency

#29
post #20
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a real risk. One company I worked for had me modify already sent and archived emails and Yahoo Messenger logs to remove incriminating evidence in preparation for an expected unfair dismissal trial. And also conveniently 'lose' the backup tapes for the period where the original data existed. Thankfully it was settled out of court. Mind you, the dishonesty was rife there. The boss had me scan in his cellphone b…

Err, IANAL, but you may have committed a crime by tampering with evidence even though it was a civil case.

Definitely in California, if not most states:

"Every person who, knowing that any book, paper, record, instrument in writing, or other matter or thing, is about to be produced in evidence upon any trial, inquiry, or investigation whatever, authorized by law, willfully destroys or conceals the same, with intent thereby to prevent it from being produced, is guilty of a misdemeanor." (Cal. Pen. Code. S. 135)

Re: Email transparency

#30
How do you handle customers' emails? Is support@stripe going to a "support" mailing list? How do you make sure every email is answered only once? I.e. that all the team can see the conversation and can opt-in optionally. Thanks!
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