It’s been a great first few weeks at Syskit. I’ve really enjoyed it, and I’ve loved meeting the team. But more than this, I can directly see why the company is going to keep growing at an even faster pace than it has so far.

Why? Is it the product? Is it the strategy? The market? Yes to all of these, but more than that it’s the culture of the company. It’s an open, communicative organisation with the right mix of autonomy and alignment.

Even more than that though, the biggest strength I found is simply the lack of meetings! I’ve seen both sides over the years – places with multiple half-hour meetings every day and now Syskit where my calendar is pretty empty. The reason I think this is so strong strategically is that by freeing up people, up it gives them the chance to actually do the work and make a real impact. It’s a strategic decision because you pay a price of losing constant comms and interaction. But the payoff is worth it – multiple days in “flow“, feeling that you’re making significant progress on important tasks. I see more clearly now how time slicing is a killer for productivity and I would struggle to go back to that approach!

With that, in mind, I’d better get back to it…