On Becoming a Self-Producer and What Business Can Learn from Open Source

For the month of August, Paul Graham has an outstanding essay on "What Business Can Learn From Open Source."  If you are sitting in a corporate environment (especially if you are a manager or in a position to influence change in your company) you should read it immediately.  If you are in a start-up environment you should also read it immediately to remind yourself of why you work at a start-up and what you are doing to preserve the edenic qualities of your company.

Towards the end of the article, Graham self-summarizes his essay into three key points:

(1) that people work harder on stuff they like
(2) that the standard office environment is very unproductive
(3) that bottom-up often works better than top-down.

I know (and Graham knows) that these three points are obvious, but that's usually what 'nuggets of truth' are....simple and obvious.  I'd like to boil it down even more.  I believe that the most emphatic  lesson that 'open source' teaches business is that employers should seek ways to find and retain "Self-Producers."  "Self-Producers," are by definition, those individuals who are able to contribute value to the company without any external resources or motivation.  More than likely, Self-Producers enjoy what they are doing, they work hard at what they are doing, they didn't always start at the top of a company (they started as founders of a company or came up through grass-roots) and they often work 'on their own time.'

For example, start-up company founders are self-reliant and internally driven to create and produce; CEOs draw from inner strength and self-inspired leadership to manage companies; Successful sales representatives are self-motivated beyond the compensation plan; Good Project Managers take pride and ownership in meeting deadlines and are duty-bound by personal choice, not management requirements. 

Self-Producers are rarely driven by external authority, compensation plans, politics or peer pressure.  Self-Producers are self-motivated by something deeper and more often by a higher purpose (not necessarily in a religious sense, but sometimes that too).  That higher purpose is what enables Self-Producers to focus on the job/task at hand and not be distracted by office politic, TPS reports,  water cooler discussions or mindless meetings. 

Within every company, its the Self-Producers who get things done. Self-Producers don't need to be "managed" or "monitored."  They just produce.  They sell.  They decide.  They lead.  They finish.  They complete.  They work.  Not because they were told to work; Not because of a stock option;  Not because of an external stimulation.  They produce, because they want to.

The open source community produces better software because its comprised of hundreds of thousands of Self-Producers.  No one tells them to Q/A or test code.  They just do it.  They want to do it.  They enjoy doing it.  And, by golly, they give back.  They create and they produce on their own time, in their homes and no one told them (or even asked them) to do it.   Imagine a company comprised entirely of Self-Producers.  No 'fat', no 'worker bees.'  Just a lean-mean-producing machine. 

(Note:  In a company comprised entirely of Self-Producers there isn't a need for such labels as 'worker bees' as everyone is producing and working equally (so to speak). A company comprised entirely of Self-Producers cancels-out the over-used phrases of 'there is a place in every company for worker bees' or 'you've gotta have 'em' or 'someone's gotta do that job'.  Those are usually self-indulgent catch phrases that employers use to justify and protect unproductive employees and catch phrases that employees use to justify their own unproductive habits.  You could say that Self-Producers are all worker bees, or vice-versa....YOU could say anything you wanted, because the Self-Producer isn't listening to you anyways. ) 

One common theme amongst Self-Producers is that they all share a Pride of Ownership.  They are all proud of their work and are proud to have their name attached to the product, company, code, sale.  Founders and CEOs must be proud of their company and they must take pride in their ownership.  The same goes for open source coders and hackers; each of them take enormous pride in their individual contribution to the software.  They know that they will forever own a piece of that code.  And they are proud.

If you are going to found a company, you better be a Self-Producer; and your partners better be Self-Producers as well. Corporations and businesses would be wise to create environments and schedules that attract Self-Producers. 

The funny thing is that we all KNOW THIS STUFF ALREADY.  Its obvious and its simple yet we refuse to act on our own consciences.  We know how to become Self-Producers.  We know what we should do to foster and encourage Self-Producers in the workplace. 

In case you forgot, go back and read Paul Graham's essay.