A behind-the-scenes look at the firm behind WordPress.com and the unique work culture that contributes to its phenomenal success.
50 million websites, or twenty percent of the entire web, use WordPress software. The force behind WordPress.com is a convention-defying company called Automattic, Inc., whose 120 employees work from anywhere in the world they wish, barely use email, and launch improvements to their products dozens of times a day. With a fraction of the resources of Google, Amazon, or Facebook, they have a similar impact on the future of the Internet. How is this possible? What’s different about how they work, and what can other companies learn from their methods?
To find out, former Microsoft veteran Scott Berkun worked as a manager at WordPress.com, leading a team of young programmers developing new ideas. The Year Without Pants shares the secrets of WordPress.com’s phenomenal success from the inside. Berkun’s story reveals insights on creativity, productivity, and leadership from the kind of workplace that might be in everyone’s future.
The Year Without Pants shares what every organization can learn from the world-changing ideas for the future of work at the heart of Automattic’s success.
Scott Berkun | Talks at Google on YouTube.
The Year Without Pants Quotes
“The most dangerous tradition we hold about work is that it must be serious and meaningless. We believe that we’re paid money to compensate us for work not worthwhile on its own. People who are paid the most are often the most confused, for they know in their hearts how little meaning there is in what they do, for others and for themselves. While money provides status, status doesn’t guarantee meaning. They’re paid well because of how poorly work compensates their souls. Some people don’t have souls, of course, but they’re beyond the scope of this book. Among those with souls and high-paying but empty jobs, there’s a denial of how what they seek is hard to get in the way they’re trying to get it.”
“This is one big problem with working remotely: no one believes you have a job at all.”