The infinite game

As far as I can remember I’ve always been curious and keen to do things differently. If something doesn’t work I’ll just look for a better way. Never will you see me sit down and relax for too long - I’m just a type who’s always out for growth. And that’s probably why I understand Flock. software engineers so well. 

I remember a few years ago, when I was considering a career change, I came across  Simon Sinek and his ideas. It was his concept of a company as an infinite game that particularly struck me. In short, finite games (like chess or football) are being played by fixed rules and have a clear goal. In the end there are winners and losers. The rules of infinite games (like business, politics or life in general), in turn, are fluctuating, there is no definite goal and nobody loses or wins in the end. According to this theory the reason many organisations fail is because their leaders apply a finite mindset to an infinite game. In contrast, businesses with an infinite mindset (flexible, innovative, adaptable) thrive in the ever-changing world. For some reason these words resonated very deeply with me. I began to see examples of finite and infinite games all around me, starting with where I was with my own career. 

At the time I was working as Global Client Director at a large consulting company. I was responsible for our business at a major bank and for the 300 software engineers serving this customer. Very quickly I was torn between guarding the margins and revenue growth on the one hand and being true to myself on the other. I was, and still am, convinced the key to success doesn’t lie in control, reports or detailed analyses. The key is working with happy people - they deliver the best results in the long run. And as I believe in the power of listening, that’s exactly what I did: take the time and listen. 

From the developers I learned that job stability and a good salary weren’t enough to keep their bright minds motivated (anyone who insisted on the contrary would be applying a finite mindset to an infinite game). At the end of the day I was surrounded by dispirited engineers: they weren’t able to participate in cool IT-events they were so passionate about and if they wanted to develop their skills, they had to do it all in the evenings. During their office hours their sole focus had to be serving the customer (finite mindset) while we all know that in our business field constant upgrading of your expertise is a must (infinite mindset).  

Using the same simple tool - listening - I also learned what it was our customer really wanted - and I can tell you it wasn’t a bunch of new developers whose main advantage was a better margin. Profits can’t be the chief goal of a healthy business. 

Coincidentally, around that time I spoke to my contact at the customer who only confirmed my hunch. He said they weren’t looking forward to increasing the number of software developers from 300 to 350 to cater for their needs. Instead, they’d be happy with 150 people who truly excelled in what they were doing. They didn’t want more, they wanted the best. For me, this conversation was a tipping point. I knew I had to stop wasting my time producing infinite reports for the management and do things differently. 

I quit my job and together with one of those excelling engineers (my business partner, Willem) we started Flock. The founding idea was “becoming better together” and working as a community, not an old-school company with a hierarchy carved in stone. We didn’t believe in the “finite” way of doing business. We wanted to become a community of happy individuals working together, learning from and inspiring each other. We didn’t think of budgets or profits or margins at all - our drive was to create a new kind of company, with an infinite mindset. From the start we were keen on doing things differently. 

We didn’t rent a standard office - our first one was in a basement along the Oude Gracht in Utrecht. As we onboarded new engineers we moved to a larger place, now just a two minute walk from the Domkerk. We made sure we could participate in the finest IT events: every year in November the whole team went to San Francisco to attend Qcon, our engineers went to Devoxx Conference in Antwerp and this year we’re planning to participate in the WeAreDevelopers World Congress in Berlin. Apart from that we deliberately chose to invest 10% of our time into … not working. At least, not for profit. We spend that time doing what makes us happy - we call these events Flock.Days. Alongside those bi-weekly gatherings, our engineers are welcome to take a full Hack Week to investigate whatever it is they’re so passionate about. Moreover, Flock. engineers may choose to switch their assignment even mid-project if it loses its appeal.  For us, it’s self-explanatory: if we’re out for outstanding work we need to keep the spark alive.

Bearing in mind that our goal is to create a perfect environment for software engineers to thrive, we never miss an opportunity for fun and growth on the personal level, too. We went herb-plucking in the wild, took the Colour Code personality test, laughed during our “Rate your colleague” lock-down session and spent long hours discussing pets, politics and philosophy at the kitchen island in our office. Soon one of our engineers is going to take a five-month sabbatical - we’ll miss him terribly of course, but we’re just as thrilled about his adventure as he is.  We’re people, not numbers. And the game we’re playing is infinite.