Know your Laws
1.
Sense of urgency to finish what we have at hand at a maniacal level.
We will continuously operate at speed. The urgency to ship fast is something that must be super high. This supersedes every other fun element or importance. Is something too big to ship fast? Break it down into smaller chunks and ship them fast.
2.
While we build ground-breaking things here and solve enormous problems for different industries, only the laws of physics become the rules. The rest are mere suggestions. Delete everything unnecessary and add things later when you iterate if you’ve deleted too much. Always ask ‘why’ to delete.
3.
Work done is always measured as force times displacement. w = fd.
This is one of my favorite rules; I often repeat it in office interactions. This means that work done here will always be measured regarding the energy expended in applying a force to move an object from point A to point B. You know what it means. Sitting in front of the PC for a long time, staying late in the office, staring at a blank screen, or just fiddling with your mouse doesn’t matter if the product doesn’t move from A to B.
Any instructions in our official handbook, for example, work times from 8 am to 6 pm IST with 48 hours per week, are mere suggestions. (read law #2)
You know your time. You know how to use it. You see the mission in hand. No one will babysit others here. You’re responsible for your growth. Be selfish for you and your company. For all that matters, as long as the product is moving at an acceptable speed, I won't even mind if you're working only for 20 hours a week.
Something that most people do not understand, but I give great care to, is the importance of always working in your mind. It's a sign of higher alpha for an engineer. It doesn't matter what you do in Zemuria or what role you perform. You're an engineer, and you should always think like an engineer. (read law #5)
I understand that some will take 20 hours to sharpen their axes and cut the tree to solve the problem in 10 hours. Now, is their adequate time 30 hrs or 10 hrs of work? As long as you spend less time doing multiple times work than any of your peers across the industry could do, it is the sign of a 10x engineer.
What good does it make to force such an engineer to force them to come on time, spend this many hours every day, and so on?
Be that 10x engineer and earn your privilege here.
If you require babysitting for any task given to you, I’ll accept your resignation immediately.
4.
Work where your team and the problem are. We need to be close to our problems.
Working from the office is the norm. But it’s not a complete rule. You must be with teammates when you’re working with engineering and design teams and brainstorm things to do stuff faster.
But if you want to work from home (WFH) for increased focus comfort, when there’s nothing you need to discuss with the team before your deliverable time comes, feel free to work on the beach, at home, park, or anywhere.
There’s no need to raise a separate WFH request. Just inform Discord if you are going to WFH in the channel where your team works. If you’re required, come to the office. We’re only 20 minutes away from anywhere in Pondy.
When I say you need to be close to your problems, you need to think both as an engineer and a problem-solver for your customer. Talk with them. Get in touch with them, and ask them questions. If you’re unsure about a feature or some requirement that you think is complex, talking to the customers is the best way to proceed.
5.
We’re an engineering-first company. We will never change this. We solve problems. That’s precisely what we do. Everyone who works here, regardless of their role/designation, exists here to solve a problem. You’re not here to be liked. You’re here to be brutally efficient and effective for the company. Learn to work with each other. The mission/goal is essential. Not friendships.
You should remember these 5 points. Everything else you can imagine as rules will fall into these five in extended explanations. This should be our clear-paced culture as we progress.