Spend time working on the machine, not just in the machine

We have a concept at Feather that we encourage everyone to think about. It's time spent "on the machine".

Working in the machine is linear growth. You get a customer question. You answer the customer question. The same request shows up tomorrow, you answer it again. You're not getting any faster, and worse, you're probably getting bored and frustrated at having to do the same things over and over again.

Working on the machine enables more. You spend a bit of time writing an FAQ and setting up a bot to not have to answer that question ever again. Well, not quite never again, but at least 90% less, which is almost as good. You had a lot more fun creating the automation, learnt something and you reap the reward of not doing that task again.

You're working on the machine.

I believe that moving fast happens by allowing as many people in your company to work on the machine. Even worse, everyone not working on the machine is slowing you down. If you can avoid hiring someone who does not work on the machine, you should.

Now this setup doesn't happen by accident - you have to want it. In order to enable it at Feather, we have the following pieces in place:

• A way to provide all the context needed to make good "on the machine" decisions.
• Empowering leaders who want you to work on the machine
• A hiring process that looks for people who want ownership

Everyone at Feather is trusted to work on the machine. That's hard to find at a bigger company. If you are excited by working at a company that values your time on the machine - check out our jobs or send me a message here.

PS I believe in a healthly mix of in the machine and on the machine time. By working in the machine you know what fixes to make on the machine.