1. Working at HackerBay, Inc. is cooperating with the most talented people you’ve ever worked with, being the most productive you’ll ever be, and creating software that is helping the most people you’ve ever reached.
  2. We recognize that inspiration is perishable, so if you’re enthusiastic about something that generates great results in relatively little time feel free to work on that.
  3. Do what is right for our customers and the rest of the HackerBay community, do what is best over the long term, don’t be evil.
  4. We build simple software. Simple is a keyword here. What we build should be simple enough so it can be used by anyone.
  5. Do not make jokes or unfriendly remarks about race, ethnic origin, skin color, gender, or sexual orientation.
  6. Use inclusive language. For example, prefer “Hi everybody” or “Hi people” to “Hi guys”.
  7. Share problems you run into, ask for help, be forthcoming with information and speak up.
  8. Don’t display surprise when people say they don’t know something, as it is important that everyone feels comfortable saying “I don’t know” and “I don’t understand.” (As inspired by Recurse.)
  9. All our procedures and templates are stored in (mostly public) git repositories. This makes them easier to find and suggest changes to with the organization and shows our commitment to open collaboration outside the organization.
  10. Work out in the open, try to use public issue trackers and repositories when possible.
  11. Most things are public unless there is a reason not to. Not public by default are:
  12. If you make a mistake, don’t worry, correct it and proactively let the affected party, your team, and the CEO know what happened, how you corrected it and how, if needed, you changed the process to prevent future mistakes.
  13. You can always refuse to deal with people who treat you badly and get out of situations that make you feel uncomfortable.
  14. Everyone can remind anyone in the company about these guidelines. If there is a disagreement about the interpretations, the discussion can be escalated to more people within the company without repercussions.
  15. If you are unhappy with anything (your duties, your colleague, your boss, your salary, your location, your computer) please let your manager, or the CEO, know as soon as you realize it. We want to solve problems while they are small.
  16. We want to have a great company so if you meet people that are better than yourself try to recruit them to join the company.
  17. Make a conscious effort to recognize the constraints of others within the team. For example, sales is hard because you are dependent on another organization, and Development is hard because you have to preserve the ability to quickly improve the product in the future.
  18. For each action or comment, it helps to ask yourself (i) does this help the company achieve its strategic goals? (ii) is this in the company’s interest, and finally, (iii) how can I contribute to this effort/issue in a constructive way?
  19. There is no need for consensus, make sure that you give people that might have good insights a chance to respond (by /cc’ing them) but make a call yourself because consensus doesn’t scale.
  20. Everyone at the company cares about your output. Being away from the keyboard during the workday, doing private browsing or making personal phone calls is fine and encouraged.