I've found that when facing a decision between two choices it's often the more uncomfortable option that's the better choice. For instance, making the call to tell your client that the delivery of a feature will be late or that a previous design decision will affect the project schedule is usually pretty difficult to do. But, you know it's the right thing to do and lets the client appropriately react. This uncomfortableness stems from the fact that you're deferring your own preferences in favor of somebody else's need for information.

It is this spirit of disclosure I knew I wanted to embrace when forming yFactorial - exposing the internals of the company to the benefit of others. From that, yFactorial and this, The Naked Company blog, were born.

 

The first part to expose? Company values. I'm not one for mission statements and other corporate fluff, but I think it is important to think about what differentiates you from your competitors and what kind of culture you want to foster. With that said, here are the main tenets that form the foundation of yFactorial:

  • Contract software development is about the relationship first, the technology second
  • Integrity, ethics and morality are the basis for any relationship
  • It's ok to have a personality in the professional world

I've worked at some really great companies in the past but always knew I was headed towards creating my own with its own distinct persona. Too often companies get bogged down in running a business and lose sight that all businesses are are groups of people. As one of my development partners likes to say, when projects fail it's usually because there's an issue with the underlying relationship, not because the technology failed. I really believe this to be true and have made this realization the basis for how I want to approach running yFactorial.

It is my goal to make every business relationship a personal one, which includes projecting my own personal integrity, morality and personality onto the relationship. Professional competence and personality are not mutually exclusive - and one could even say that the latter enhances the former.

Are you interested in working with a software development shop that works with you on a personal level? Give me a shout.