by Tim O'Reilly
July 1992
Welcome to O'Reilly & Associates.
This handbook is designed to give you some background about the company, its goals and objectives, and the way we work.
I called this booklet "Rules of Thumb" because every rule in it is meant to be broken at some time or another, whenever there is good reason. We have no absolute policies, just guidelines based on past experience. As we grow, we will learn, and will make new empirical rules about what works best in new situations.
If you have questions or objections to any of our policies, speak up. There is no guarantee that objections will lead to changes--but they will be heard, and answered to the best of our ability.
--Tim O'Reilly
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No one should ever be unemployed, and no one should ever be stuck with a job that they hate. There are so many worthwhile things to do, and it is possible for a creative, hard-working individual to make a living doing just about anything.
However, it is often hard to find a point of attack, and the risks of starting your own business are high. Many more opportunities are available to a larger organization with some financial strength than are available to an individual. What's more, so many important things are the product of organized activity--people working together cooperatively to achieve something that no one could manage alone.
Ultimately, that's one of the reasons why I founded ORA, and what interests me most about it: it is a way for me, and those working with me, to have more choice about the things we work on, and how and when we work, without living in a garret. My goal is to build a platform that increasingly supports freedom for employees to demonstrate their initiative and creativity, at the same time as it gives us the ability to tackle larger and more interesting projects.
I don't think of ORA as a publishing company. I see it rather as a point of leverage between the skills and interests of its employees, and opportunities for applying those skills out in the world. Right now, because of our history, those opportunities are chiefly in publishing, but that need not always be the case. I hope to branch out increasingly into other areas, led by employee interests, and as we can make those areas work as self-sustaining businesses. New ventures can start from either end:
Season these alternatives with a dash of realism, and you have my corporate vision.
As a new employee (or even one who has been around for a while), it is very important to keep this in mind, because it shapes company strategy and policy in many ways that are not immediately obvious. Probably the most important is that profit is not the most important company goal. Profitability is desirable like good health is desirable in your personal life: without it, nothing else goes well. But in any given case, maximum profitability might be sacrificed to the development of employee potential, the pursuit of worthwhile goals, keeping the company a place where people enjoy coming to work each day, the freedom of employees to find their own balance between work and personal life, or some other intangible. My worst fear is that we would become a "professionally managed" company with our eye only on the bottom line.
If I were to boil my company vision down to one sentence, it would be this: "To make money doing interesting and worthwhile things."
Why "to make money"? Well, money is the fuel for the whole system. It makes the rest possible. What's more, there is a wonderful rigor in free-market economics. When you have to prove the value of your ideas by persuading other people to pay for them, it cleans out an awful lot of wooly thinking. I think often of Alexander Pope's comment about writing poetry in rhymed couplets. He said that funnelling his creativity through such a narrow aperture made it shoot out like water from a fountain.
Why "interesting and worthwhile"? Oddly enough, while dull people find very little to be of interest, intelligent people find almost anything interesting. (Curiosity is the wellspring of intelligence.) And so there are many things that can be interesting that do not add a great deal of value to the world. Adding the proviso that what we do be worthwhile in some larger sense limits our selections a bit, but like the need to make money, actually improves the chances of happiness at what we do.
A key point to remember is that the company is a means, not an end. The end is a better life for those of us who work, for our customers, and (as far as we can stretch it), for everyone we touch.
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Given what I've said about the goals of the company, it should be clear that your job--whether it's being an editor, a proofreader, a salesperson, or a customer-service rep--is not limited to the list of obvious tasks that you are presented with each day, or to some limited and static job description.
Bring yourself to your work!
We haven't hired you to act as a cog in the company machine, but to exercise your intelligence, your creativity, and your perseverence. Make things happen.
There is so much to be done! If you see something that isn't being done, but should be, do it. Don't wait, thinking it's someone else's job. (If it really is someone else's job, and they aren't getting it done, ask if you can help.)
If you run out of things to do, look for something worthwhile--maybe something no one else in the company has ever thought of, but that is staring you in the face. Who knows, if it turns out to be important, you might find yourself with a whole new job!
We aim to have complete job mobility: one person started out as our receptionist, then did bookkeeping, then production, then sales and marketing, then became a writer, where she now still works. If you master the job you were hired for, we will be quick to find you more challenging work. Or if you see a job you think you can do, volunteer yourself.
If it isn't clear to you what would most benefit the company, talk to your manager. Part of each manager's job is to try to maximize both productivity and job-satisfaction for everyone who works for them.
Remember too that your job isn't just an opportunity to improve your economic standing, or that of the company, but to make yourself a better person, and this world a little better place to live. Each of your co-workers, our customers, our suppliers, and anyone else you deal with is a person, just like you. Treat them always with the care, fairness, and honesty that you'd like to experience in return.
Sappy, maybe. But make the effort across the board, and see what a difference it makes!
Copyright © 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.