Startup CXO

Chapter 98Shifting to a New Development Culture

You don't want to wait to shift your development culture until your technical debt is so high that you're in a big hole, like we were at Return Path. I can tell you from first‐hand experience that being the part of the business holding everyone back and having all the fingers pointed at you is not a good place to be. But what can you do that will actually change your development culture? Fortunately, there are steps you can take to alter your development culture and they don't have to be dramatic—you just have to be consistent in your approach. One of the best examples of changing a culture is from Ed Catmull's (2014) book, Creativity, Inc, where he tells the story of Pixar. Catmull highlights that the right leadership, transparency, and candor can foster a great culture and lead to innovative results. In 2006, Disney acquired Pixar not only for the technology and talent, but to take the Pixar culture to Disney. At the time of the merger, Disney was in a 16‐year trough since their last number 1 hit. They had a lousy work environment, a leadership imbalance that diminished creativity, filmmakers who had lost their voice and were afraid of pouring their hearts into something that wouldn't succeed. They saw themselves as hired guns, not owners of high‐quality films, and they weren't empowered to fix what was broken. In short, they were playing it safe and being a utility. The Pixar culture of innovation, candor, freedom, and change ...