Just came across this article in my Twitter feed.

What do you guys think about it? I don't have much context for evaluating since it's entirely about engineering types.

TL;DR - "These guys and gals hate — hate — each other. Volatiles believe Stables are fat, lazy, and bureaucratic. They believe Stables have become “The Man.” Meanwhile, Stables believe Volatiles hold nothing sacred and are doing whatever they please, company or product be damned. Bad news: everyone is right."

> Once you’re successfully past 1.0, you have a choice: coast and die, or disrupt. No one in history has ever actually chosen coast and die; everyone thinks they’re choosing the path of continued disruption, but it’s a very different choice when it’s made by a Stable than by a Volatile. A Stable’s choice of disruption is within the context of the last war. They can certainly innovate, but they will attempt to do so within the box they bled to build. A second-generation Volatile will grin mischievously and remind you, “There is no box.”

> While Apple is a good example of a company that doesn’t give a shit about wars of the past, I think Amazon is an equally solid example of a company that has chosen to invest in their Volatiles. In 2002, they introduced Amazon Web Services and we all collectively scratched our heads: A company that sells books online is getting into online services for web sites? Whatever.

> I believe a healthy company that wants to continue to grow and invent needs to equally invest in both their Stables and their Volatiles.

Your Stables are there to remind you about reality and to define process whereby large groups of people can be coordinated to actually get work done. Your Stables bring predictability, repeatability, credibility to your execution, and you need to build a world where they can thrive.

>Your Volatiles are there to remind you that nothing lasts, and that the world is full of Volatiles who consider it their mission in life to replace the inefficient, boring, and uninspired. You can’t actually build them a world because they’ll think you’re up to something Stable, so you need to create a corner of the building where they can disrupt.

Your exhausting and hopefully never-ending job as a leader of engineers is the constant negotiation of a temporary peace treaty between the factions.

Those are some valuable nuggets I pulled out. In the end, I think the TL;DR is actually:

Stables and Volatiles are both important. They both play their roles, but they hate each other. So you need to create an environment for each, and help them coexist.

Stables help your company be grounded, while Volatiles remind you not to just sit on your ass after shipping or "success".

I hope this is something we keep cognizant of as we grow — those of us who are Volatiles to start with will become Stables, and we will be hiring both factions. It's important to be aware of which you are.

This is why Groups is awesome. That is all.

... will read and comment later.

man josh you keep breaking the 4th wall between branch user and someone who designs the product. last time it was "i didnt get an email for this"... GEEZ

sorry for killin the party.

Haha @ concept of "breaking the fourth wall."

Is this a standard description of engineering types or is it unique to this blog post?

I don't think it's limited to engineers — it applies to any person in a company, really. There are people who are obsessed with steady progress and efficiency, and there are people who like high-risk and disruptive work. They are always coexisting at various stages of a company's growth, but this article does a really good job of articulating the wants and needs of both.

What's intriguing is the transition from Volatile to Stable after v1.0.

Yeah agreed - I don't think this is particularly related to engineers, it's a statement about how you change your strategy as you learn and, perhaps, grow jaded.

This is the same difference as older entrepreneurs proudly publicizing their 4 day work weeks weeks while younger entrepreneurs love to talk about their how their team works 7 days a week. It's a different frame of reference.