The Minimalist Business
There’s a hiring freeze at the tech company called Basecamp. I guess they must be struggling. After all, you only do hiring freezes when your budget is flat, projections are low, and the future is uncertain. Which is why this freeze is so surprising. Basecamp has such a great product. And even better leadership. How could they find themselves falling on such hard times?
They’re supposed to be growing. Successful businesses always grow in size. Because growth is what business is all about. Bigger is better. More, more, more.
Sarcasm aside, there is a legit hiring freeze at Basecamp. It’s been going on since January. And as DHH explains, this is about a healthy constraint:
The constraint of having the same team means that you also only get to do the same amount of work. But you don’t have to do the same actual work, you can do different work. You can judo the work. You can say no to more work. You can focus on more effective work.
And by all accounts, they continue to see revenue increase even as they keep their focus elsewhere. The attitude reminds me of the single best line of advice I ever heard on business. I don’t have a direct attribution but it was…
