Our Spaceship

High Trust Culture. We love helping each other as much as we can, but no one’s perfect, so trust is essential. It's the foundation upon which everything else is built. No matter how great someone is in any regard, it is problematic if there is no trust.

Optimize for People. Everyone is on the spaceship for different motivations. Some are here because they love exploration, while others are into rocket engines. Whatever it is, if someone is working at a high level of excellence, is a great teammate, and strengthens our culture - it's everyone's responsibility, especially our leaders, to try to optimize each individual’s professional preferences to the extent possible. We also understand and expect preferences can, and often do, change over time.

Respect. Every person on the spaceship is here for a specific purpose - they are valued and respected, no matter their position. Whether the person is in charge of plumbing or the engine room, the spaceship starts falling apart if either doesn't do their job well.

Picking Up the Trash. On the spaceship, any trash on the ground won't disappear by itself. While it might not be your designated task, if you spot trash and it's easy to pick up, it's expected that you'll do so. If you're consistently picking up more trash than reasonable, communicate with your supervisor or People Ops to address the situation and ensure effective communication about maintaining the spaceship's cleanliness.

Communicate with Context. In the spaceship, everybody's time is valuable. The last thing we want to do is steal other people’s time by asking for details that should have been included in the original communication. The following guidelines ensure that we communicate effectively and efficiently so we can hustle as a team. This will be used in all communication, including Slack and Email. Setting the right context and highlighting the importance and clear expectations removes the ambiguity, fear of the unknown, and the chances of miscommunication.

The Culture We Live = The People We Attract. Google offers exceptional perks and a supportive atmosphere, appealing to those who value comfort. Amazon seeks competitive, results-driven employees akin to special forces training. Apple aims to attract quality-focused, passionate workers, providing a balance of excellent work and support without excessive perks. While Get Claude spaceship’s culture most aligns (80%) with Apple’s focus on empowering crew members to do excellent work, we are also process and data-driven like Amazon (20%).

We Focus on Finding The Right Answers. Embracing Radical Candor, the culture values open communication, data-driven excellence, and collaborative problem-solving. It prioritizes outcomes over ego, fosters direct yet respectful debates, balances challenges with genuine care, and cultivates a collaborative environment that breeds innovation. The focus is on results and growth, with an acceptance of failure as a learning opportunity on the path to achieving the right answers.

Let’s Look at the Data (Trust But Verify). As companies expand, negative consequences often emerge due to a lack of visibility and accountability. The absence of clear data-driven standards can lead to unfair decisions, such as favoring charismatic voices over more deserving candidates. To address this, Get Claude aims to establish objective criteria, supported by recorded data, to guide growth opportunities and prevent resentment, encouraging accountability and transparency in decision-making.

Karaoke Master (Do Everything We Can to Enable Professional Preferences). This is similar to how we want people on our spaceship to feel. That if they are not able to achieve their desired outcome (for now) of a promotion, being selected for an opportunity et al., there is nothing more the company could have done (within reason) to help them. And that if they desired, the company would gladly continue helping them. That if they have any suggestions, requests for help et al., the company will very gladly listen to them (and thank them for their feedback), if not, take action on their feedback.

Rockstars vs. Superstars (City Building Requires Strong Foundations). Rockstars and Superstars differ in career aspirations and work styles. Rockstars excel in their current roles, providing stability, while Superstars constantly seek new challenges for growth. Both are essential in a balanced team, with Rockstars forming a reliable foundation and Superstars driving innovation. Neither role is superior; they complement each other to build a resilient structure combining stability and advancement, akin to a pyramid supporting a skyscraper, and the right mix is essential for various team and project needs.

Quality + Difficulty Adjusted Throughput. Each work unit consists of Quality and Difficulty characteristics, which we want to increasingly characterize using structured data that get recorded as features in an Airtable. Time to perform a task on its own is not the most critical component of Throughput, it only factors if all else equal. For example, someone who is able to mentor and build a team of Avengers vs a team of frontline basic infantry will be deemed to have much higher Quality + Difficulty Adjusted Throughput, even if it takes them less time to do so.

Cultural Influences (Reading List).

1. Good Profit and The Science of Success (by Charles G. Koch). Inspires our broad operating philosophy.
2. Radical Candor (by Kim Scott). Inspires our behavior.
3. Team Topologies (by Matthew Skelton, and Manuel Pais). Inspires how we organize people.
4. Working Backwards (by Colin Bryar, Bill Carr). Inspires how we plan.