arago’s
Corporate Culture
Thank you to Netflix,
Lars Hinrichs, David Bizer, Klaas Kersting, Robert I
Sutton, Stephen Covey for inspiring us
We thrive on excellence, engineering and
our fuel are our people
Values are not for the entry hall,
not to show off,
they are intrinsic
We show our values by who we value
We are building an asshole free company
We do not bad mouth others
We do not drain each others energy
We are about the “we” not the “I”
Person over expertise
-> personality + professionalism
Behaviors we value
Behaviours we value
You yourself want to understand our
strategy, our market and our customers as
well as partners
You are about learning and
finding out new things
You are knowledgeable in technology and
our business in general
Think
Be innovative
You take the time to simplify things, because
only by reducing unnecessary complexity
we can solve more complex problems
You create new ideas that prove useful
You challenge the status quo when it
makes sense and make better suggestions
You aim to solve big problems
Think
Make a difference
You are concise and articulate
You get a large amount of stuff done
Your performance is consistently high
so your colleagues can rely on you
Act
Be responsible
You can prioritize
You cure causes, not symptoms
You focus on results rather than process
You do what is best for arago,
not what is best for yourself or your team
You can admit someone else’s idea is better
than yours when searching for new
concepts
You share information openly and
proactively
You contribute outside your speciality and
you help others
Act
Be passionate
You have arago’s success in your heart and
mind
AutomationExpert
You make your actions count in the long
run
You are about getting things done,
not about adhering to process
You inspire others with your hunger for
results and you stick to your guns
You celebrate wins.
Our wins are your success
You are straight forward, candid & direct
You say things about other employees only
if you would say the same things straight
into their face
You admit mistakes without hesitation and
without explanation why they were
unavoidable
You do not act political or tactical when
others disagree with you
You listen more than you talk so you can
understand better
You respect others, regardless of their
opinion or status
Learn
Be courageous
You say what you think,
even if you know there is opposition
You take smart risks, i.e. you rather act and
risk a mistake than do nothing and avoid
making a mistake now
You do not tolerate behavior inconsistent
with our goals, values and the no-asshole
rule
You do not beat around the bush.
Make decisions, even tough ones
Win-win is our road
A great company are great people
A company is for profit, not for welfare
Questioning our team
We want to keep the ones we would fight
for
We want to make sure the ones we would
not fight for find a place where they can
thrive
Tell them straight out that this is not a place
for them
Make sure they are on the market while
their knowledge is still valuable
The ones we would fight for, we fight for
The team we have is a team
We help each other – because unlike fixed
teams we grow with good performance and
there is room for all good team members
Keeping our values is everybody’s job
It makes us sustainable
We cut people who have contributed
some slack if they hit a rough spot, because
we believe in people.
We expect the same from our people,
if we hit a rough spot, we want them to
cut us some slack.
Eternal loyalty
is bad
We cannot tolerate consistent under
performance, no matter how long a person
is with us
We do not tolerate asshole behavior,
no matter how long a person is with us
We do not expect our people to tolerate
continuous bad decisions or bad behavior
from us
No brilliant jerks!
We aim to have top notch people, so you are most
likely not much better than the rest. If you still think so
you probably have a personality disorder
We expect results
Putting in hours is irrelevant
Results are what matters
Our culture
is not for everyone
The ones who want to compete to
improve
The ones who tell things as they are and
can accept straight out criticism
The ones who want to perform and do
The ones who seek stability and
more of the same
The ones who’s highest goal is job security
If it is for you, you will be part of a great
team and part of changing the world
If it is not for you, we respect your decision,
we value your contribution and we help
you to move on
Responsibility generates freedom,
freedom is our destination
Freedom and responsibility
The kind of person
an aragon is
Constantly learning
Self disciplined
Acting like a leader
Not afraid to get his / her hands dirty
Does not wait for someone to tell him / her
what to do
These responsible people thrive on
autonomy, mastery and purpose and they
are worth it!
We want to increase freedom
as we grow
not limit it!
Most big companies have very limited
freedom
Growth increases complexity
Growth also decreases talent density
This generates chaos
To manage chaos processes are created
Processes and procedures drive talent out
of the company
A vicious circle
In a non-changing world processes and procedures
can catch a lot of leaving talent, so the short term
outcome of process introduction is positive
But the world never stops changing
We need a different approach
We want to avoid chaos by increasing
talent density with growth
Run informally as much as possible
Informal environments attract high
performance and creativity
Our processes exist to enable our
people to work on their jobs only!
Someone who focuses on working the
system loses in our environment
Someone who does his / her job wins
Our service back bone watches out for that
We attract good people to stay informal
We increase business complexity as slowly
as possible
We actively rethink and simplify our
business
We want a culture of freedom,
responsibility, self discipline and creativity
We do not want a culture of process
adherence
Freedom is not absolute
Freedom cannot create disaster
Ones freedom cannot make someone
else’s job hell on earth
Freedom cannot infringe moral, ethics and
legal issues
In our culture rapid recovery is more
important than avoiding mistakes
No one gets fired for making a mistake
You have to recover from mistakes to make
the system more robust
You do not want to make the same mistake
over and over!
Good vs bad process
Good process enables talented people to
get more done
Bad processes try to avoid recoverable
mistakes
Bad processes creep in because avoiding
errors sounds great
We encourage everyone to challenge bad
rules and processes
Relevance is our motor
Context vs Control
The best managers create great results by
setting the right context, not by controlling
everything
Context vs control
Clearly defined roles
Knowing the risks
Context vs control
Avoid
Top down decision making
Management approvals i.e. cover your ass
Process valued more than results
Links to company goals
Priority (important has higher impact than
urgent)
Level of precision required
Key stakeholders
If one of your guys does something dumb,
do not blame them, think where you set
the wrong context
When you are tempted to control your
guys, think of what context to set
Great ships are not built by organizing
wood gathering, etc., but by creating a
longing for the endless sea
Because self motivated people will do
better work, if they understand and believe
in the purpose!
When someone is still learning
When someone is in a wrong role
Context creates an organization
Strategies and goals are communicated
clearly and openly
Teams focus their efforts on making the
strategy real
Managers invest their time into making
goals and strategy known and understood
Minimal cross functional meetings required
because everyone contributes to strategy
Leaders proactively coordinate
Forensic reviews to increase goal
achievement and alignment
Thank you for your time which we hope was well invested, because dismissing good ideas can harm your future