Octopus was founded by Paul Stovell in 2011. At that time the culture of Octopus was the result of Paul himself. As Octopus steadily grew, adding new people to the mix, we've tried to incorporate a diverse, and geographically distributed, team of people, while fostering those same cultural principles. Even though we've struggled at times to articulate exactly what Octopus culture means. After years we've recognised the following principles which guide the Octopus culture:
- The Australian cultural idiom of mateship where people have a will to win, dedication to duty, honour, compassion and honesty, mateship and teamwork, loyalty, and physical and moral courage.
- Servant leadership where the leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.
- Building effective teams where people take risks without feeling insecure or embarrassed, allowing innovation to come from anyone.
- Work life harmony where people use the privilege of flexibility to discover their most productive and rewarding ways to contribute to the success of Octopus. (is there a better reference?)
- Decision making through building consensus where people agree to support a decision in the best interest of Octopus as a whole.
The culture at Octopus is the sum of its people and the way they interact. We want to maintain and strengthen the culture of Octopus. This means every person at Octopus must make an individual contribution to a team that embodies Octopus's cultural norms.
These are the defining characteristics of all Octopus people: all of the other roles and specialities build on these.
I use Radical Candor as a foundational approach to giving and receiving feedback (see also our handbook and internal wiki)
- I enthusiastically seek feedback
- I take feedback well, challenging myself to remove my ego as much as possible, and thank people for their feedback
- I directly give timely, specific, and sincere praise
- I directly give timely, specific, and actionable criticism
- I am considerate when considering the best forum to share my feedback with someone directly, for example, praise in public, and criticism in private
- Other people genuinely enjoy working with me.
- I recognise the individuals as well as the team.
- I understand that diversity in age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective is beneficial to the team.
- I happily take responsibility for what I produce.
- I avoid going dark and I know when to call out for help.
- I help other people when it's within my power to do so.
- I am well aware of all processes of my team and diligently follow them, encouraging others to do the same.
- Even when I disagree with something I continue to work enthusiastically, learning from the others in the team.
- Every venture has mundane tasks and I work happily and diligently through them.
- I am recognised by my desire to learn and my motivation to improve.
- I put the needs of other people before my own.
- I help other people perform at their best.
- I readily praise people publicly, and deal with the awkward stuff privately.
- I prefer other people are recognised for their accomplishments.
- I am confident to take risks, ask questions, and offer new ideas.
- The people around me feel confident to take risks, ask questions, or offer new ideas.
- I am dependable. My team can count on me to do high quality work on time.
- I help clarify the goals, roles, and execution plans for our teams.
- I help my team understand the meaning and impact of the work we are doing so we all feel engaged.
- I treat flexibility as a privilege and a helpful tool, instead of treating it as a right and something to be exploited.
- I am a self-managing team member. I make and keep my commitments using the privilege of flexibility wisely.
- I communicate proactively when I can't keep commitments I've made and help find an amicable solution.
- I recognise I can't do everything and still do a good job. I make wise choices about where to invest my time and where to bow out and let others invest theirs.
- My contributions to discussions are net-positive, informative, and helpful.
- I communicate professionally and clearly, and I am effective at reaching consensus with other people.
- I accelerate the decision making process by identifying potential solutions and building a case for them, rather than merely identifying problems.
- I approach decision making with an open mind regardless of my preferences or experiences.
- I trust the decision made by consensus will be in the best interest of Octopus as a whole and happily commit myself to its success.