KPIs (for my last day)

Revenue is important. The quantity of it, both absolutely and relative to expenses and cash on hand, is a critical measure of any business. I should know, having spent much of my time here attempting to accurately account for it. Revenue gets us paid and keeps the lights on. Revenue is life. Revenue sustains.

Revenue, however, is not all — or even most — of how I judge the value of our company. Of course, a company and its employees have a responsibility to investors to succeed financially, for their investment also sustains. But measuring ourselves solely in financial terms seems reductive. It cannot and does not capture the value of what we’ve done together. So I’d like to propose some additional Key Performance Indicators:

• Are we learning? Are we doing things we haven’t done before? Things that we don’t really know how do do? Are we learning fast enough that we look at our work from a year or six months ago — or even from last month — and see the difference immediately?
• How does our team react when people make mistakes? Do we place blame, or do we lift each other up, fix things, and figure out what we can learn? Are we making enough mistakes?
• Are we erring on the side of trying new things, knowing that we’d rather try and fail than not try at all?
• Are we making something that makes someone’s life better or easier? Does our work matter? Are we leaving things better than we found them? Do we do our best work even when we could get away with less?
• Are we proud of our work? Of our coworkers? Of the things we make together? Do we hold ourselves and our work to a high standard? Do we celebrate our successes?
• Do we trust each other? Do we feel an obligation to each other to do our jobs well? Do we look at our coworkers and want to get better ourselves? Not out of competition, but because we refuse to let each other down?
• Are we excited to come to work in the morning? Is the office a happy place? Does work feel like work, or like making things and learning in the company of friends? Are our coworkers our friends? Do we make each other laugh?

I’ll leave it to the data scientists to determine exactly where we stand on these measures. But I feel that by this accounting we are profitable. We have created real value here, at the very least for ourselves and for each other. This is a truly special place to work.

It’s been the greatest privilege I’ve had to work for this company and with this team. I’m honored by the trust placed in me as a member of our team, both when it was deserved and particularly when it wasn’t. And I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in the years ahead, as a team and as individuals.

With gratitude,

Michael