Behaviour and protocol

Values

Values are pointless if not put into practice. Our values are reflected in the following behaviors.

Collective ownership

Collective ownership gives control of the entire project to all team members. “Your part” is the product. Either it’s a good product, or it is not.

Collective vision

• Communicate openly. No privileged information. Everyone should have the same basis for decision making.
• Cut the middle person. We put the team directly in front of the stakeholder.
• Break knowledge silos. No one is “the expert” in an area.

Collective accountability

• Work end-to-end. We need to be able to impact as much of the project as possible.
• T-shape profiles. We still have roles, and they know about areas surrounding their expertise.
• Integrated QA. The team takes direct responsibility for the work they’ve created.

Collective contribution

• Pair up! Team members work simultaneously on the same tasks.
• Keep it simple. We want people to be able to pitch in.

Guiding values

Inspired by Voluntās we have defined a set of virtues. These virtues are meant to be a guide on how to approach situations where our values are in conflict. They are set up as “X over Y” to make it clear that we value both, but aim to prioritize the first.

Trust

• Team over individuals
• Autonomy over control
• Transparency over appearances

Betterment

• Quality over progress
• Feedback over consideration
• Proactivity over minimizing work

Sustainability

• Simplicity over versatility
• Lunch time over crunch time
• Defaults over personal preference