Part of growing is reevaluating. Running the business we have now is simply not the same as the one we ran five years ago. That’s why we’re announcing a dramatic shift. In light of recent difficulties we’ve faced working effectively as a virtual organization, we will be relocating our entire staff to Chicago. No one on our team will be permitted to work remotely. We realize this runs counter to much of the advice we’ve given in the past, so allow us to explain why we’re shifting course.
We used to believe time zones didn’t matter
We were wrong. In the past months we’ve experimented with holding two-hour status meetings every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But with people located all over the map, timing has proven to be difficult. Uniting our staff will fix this.
As we’ve grown, security has become more important.
Sure, we trust our employees. But we don’t know who else is in their house. What happens if there’s a messy divorce? Or some teen pranksters lurking around? We can’t risk it. Now everyone will get a dedicated work iMac instead of a laptop. This iMac will be chained down in our new office. Work programming and design is no longer allowed on our staff’s personal computers. (Staffers are still free to play around with open source toys, if they must, as long as they do so on their own time)
We also want to make sure our productivity is best of breed
If we demand 99.9% uptime from our servers, we should demand that amount of productivity from our employees too. To that end, everyone will work in our kitchen, sitting around a big table. This will make it harder for any team member to slip into “lazy mode” on Facebook, Reddit, Hacker News, or Twitter. We pay for all hands on deck and that’s what we’ll get with our new setup.
Given the incredible design of our new office, we want our employees to take just as much pride in their own physical appearance too
So we’re instituting a dress policy. We have created an official 37signals uniform, with help from our friends across the street at Threadless. It is a unisex, one-piece, uniform that is functional and minimalist, just like our apps. We are confident our employees will love their new mandated attire.
Change is never easy. But we’re willing to do whatever it takes to be the most efficient company we can be. Now please excuse us, we’re off to get more productive. And secure. And dressed the same.
P.S: Please refrain from posting any snarky comments on this serious matter. Our employees are getting the word at the same time you are (openness is the best policy) and we’d like them to have a chance to tell their families before having to read something inappropriate from an anonymous coward.
MiSc
on 01 Apr 11nice
blahblah
on 01 Apr 11APRIL FOOLS
Onlooker
on 01 Apr 11Sure… twice in one day!!! Shoulda saved this one for next year.
E-Mini Player
on 01 Apr 11April fools! Good one :)
Micah
on 01 Apr 11I’m going to call #aprilfools on this one – if it’s not a prank, then my regard for 37Sig just dropped big time. The fact that we’re finding out the same time as the employees is a sure-fire bet it’s a prank.
Jason Pontius
on 01 Apr 11FINALLY.
Jordan Koschei
on 01 Apr 11It is a unisex, one-piece, uniform that is functional and minimalist, just like our apps.
Adam
on 01 Apr 11Is it an April Fools joke? Please, tell me it’s a joke.
Warren
on 01 Apr 11We can’t be fooled by David this easily…
Jason Clark
on 01 Apr 11This post brought to you by Comic Sans.
COD
on 01 Apr 11If you had quit after time zones you might of had me on this :)
Matt Smith
on 01 Apr 11Classic.
Micah
on 01 Apr 11Ton of stuff in this post should’ve warned you: meetings on Monday, Wednesday AND Friday? Not in Jason Fried’s house.
Calling Facebook, Reddit, Hacker News, or Twitter “lazy mode”? C’mon, man. Whatever.
Me
on 01 Apr 11And i heard they also sealed an agreement to use ASP.NET MVC from now on. Finally, 37 signals is getting real!
Gerhard
on 01 Apr 11This must be an April fools thing.. The dress code thing is just too much.. haha!
river
on 01 Apr 11i’m glad you guys have finally seen the light. i assume you’re adding a ten-person IT group as well?
Jared Stilwell
on 01 Apr 11Nice touch.
Harvey
on 01 Apr 11If this isn’t an April Fools joke, then it’s the biggest embarrassment of 37signals of all time.
Their entire premise is that working remote (which implies staying small) works.
But every organization gets to a certain size that forces you to change your organization and become “big”.
Since 37signals now has nearly 30 employees, they are getting to that point and are having to implement controls
Nate Klaiber
on 01 Apr 11I expected more. You should have made a post speaking to how much you love RSpec and Cucumber, and have dropped Test::Unit.
:)
Sanat Gersappa
on 01 Apr 11You forgot to mention the VC investment :-)
DERP
on 01 Apr 11HERP.
Arik Jones
on 01 Apr 11@Micah, I wonder what gave it away? It couldn’t have been thbit about a 37signals uniform. ;)
J Lane
on 01 Apr 11I propose that you call this new process “Getting Unreal”.
You should probably hold an hour long pre-meeting before your 2 hour status meetings though. It really helps to boost the team synergy.
Arik Jones
on 01 Apr 11I think a prank involving a new app that sounds plausible but is overly complex.
Chad
on 01 Apr 11Am I the only one who would love to see a Threadless-designed 37signals uniform?
Dylan Higginbotham
on 01 Apr 11I was half way through this before I realized it was a prank.
I was actually thinking that some of your workers wouldn’t make the move and then I might have a chance to work with you!
Well played my friend, well played.
John Sextro
on 01 Apr 11LMAO. Good one.
Thanks for all that you guys do to keep advancing the thinking in these areas.
Dan
on 01 Apr 11Glad to see 37signals is keeping true to their mission.
Jarin Udom
on 01 Apr 11Since I basically do whatever 37signals does, I would just like to officially announce that effective immediately, Robot Mode LLC is instituting these policies.
Justin Jackson
on 01 Apr 11Where can I buy this 37signals “Threadless” onesie you’re talking about? (remember, sell your by-product!)
Dustin
on 01 Apr 11I would really like to see that uniform. Truly well played.
Peter SHINe 신동혁
on 01 Apr 11I almost believed this. And more strangely, I felt pity for this company and wanted to respect them even more for admitting the reality and willing to adapt. But fortunately, it’s April Fool’s joke! (, isn’t it?) Thank you for reminding us that ideals of 37signals are still so much alive and strong enough to fool me! Thank you for this fun post which cheered me a lot after being stressed for my work.
J
on 01 Apr 11It’s not a prank, I found out that I have to make the move right now.
FFFFFUUUU
lakshman
on 01 Apr 11april fools day. ... damn..
Americo Savinon
on 01 Apr 11Nice. I think you could also mention: Venture Capital investments in 37Signals and migrating all your app suite from Rails to php.
Beto
on 01 Apr 11Sure, April Fools, but that sounded like most every other “normal” company I’ve come to know, honestly. Didn’t know 37s wanted so hard to finally become, um… corporate. :)
Daryl
on 01 Apr 11The best April Fools are the ones that require a double-take ;-)
Yosep
on 01 Apr 11Come on, can someone from 37Signals verify if this is a joke or not? I am about to lose some of my utmost respect for them. Please, save yourself!!!
Andre
on 01 Apr 11Well played, my friends, well played.
DONALD L SCHENCK
on 01 Apr 11What’s NOT funny is that most companies, for the most part, DO think like this.
Benjamin Kohl
on 01 Apr 11Sadly, your April Fools joke here is the reality at my job… minus the chained iMacs. We have custom-built PCs with celeron processors and Windows XP. :-(
Marya
on 01 Apr 11You totally got me, though I did tightly furl my brow at the “no lazy working.” It wasn’t til the dress code that I let out a huge sigh of relief. That was a good one, Sigs.
Aaron M
on 01 Apr 11About had me until the dress code. That’s what gave it away. I could completely understand the first point being real though. I work with a team across different time zones on a side project right now. It is tricky to sometimes have all of us on skype.
Sylvain Boucher
on 01 Apr 11Haha nice one!You got me!
Drew
on 01 Apr 11Well played sirs. I almost burned my copy of Rework.
(another) Bob
on 01 Apr 11April Fool’s Day notwithstanding, the HR stamp of approval and corporate non-disclosure speak are nowhere to be found in this document! And, by the way, even the most uptight corporations have jeans day at least once a week. I think we should form a committee immediately!
I’m leaving to pursue other interests. …
Chuck U Farley
on 01 Apr 11Ugh, it’s true – I worked for a great small internet company, and had the same thing happen to me (minus the uniforms) last year. I think its mostly corporate laziness, as they got more productivity out of me working remotely than I ever gave them when I was on-site in the office, pulled by everyone for pointless 2-hour status meetings…. (rolls eyes)...
Steve R.
on 01 Apr 11Only when I read David use the buzzword bingo favorite phrase “Best of Breed” did I get the joke. I’m that dense, sad to say. Up to that point, I was this close to tears.
David Andersen
on 01 Apr 11Someone let the gullibulls out of the pasture.
Jeff Mackey
on 01 Apr 11And I also heard that 37signals is relocating all customers to the Chicago area.
JB
on 01 Apr 11Brilliant. You had me there up until ‘all sat round the kitchen table’. The disclaimer is hilarious :)
Although, I’m sure there is some truth in the data security angle you come from there – especially where massive databases of confidential client information are floating around the ether.
Jim U
on 01 Apr 11I think the commenters suggesting this is a joke just because today is 4-1 are off base. One of the underlying points of REWORK is to be flexible and admit that something isn’t working and then having the courage to move forward. The leadership just realized that absolutely everything unique about the business that made it distinct and successful stopped working about 5 days ago. These new policies take courage. This couldn’t possibly be a joke, could it? ;)
Christian
on 01 Apr 11Haha, you totally had me for the first couple of paragraphs
Functional Illiterate
on 01 Apr 11Two hour meetings 3 times a week = Foolish
Locked down to office computers = Foolish
A Non-virtual workplace = Foolish
Either the Dream had died or it’s April First!!!
Hey….
Nick
on 01 Apr 11Glad you’ve come at last to the well-known best practices. It speaks profoundly of your business coming to maturity.
Chained iMacs were the best touch for me. Thanks for a good laugh. :)
Ricardo
on 01 Apr 11Are these news related to this? http://ontechies.com/2011/04/01/37-signals-gets-vc-boost-again/
Rob
on 01 Apr 11Welcome to the enterprise!
Nico Appel
on 01 Apr 11Yeah, right! But sorry, it’s just to much out of your philosphy.
Daniel
on 01 Apr 11To my shame I read 3/4 of the way through that post before I remembered the date…
Eric
on 01 Apr 11Pretty funny, but I was listening to a “This week in startups” interview with Joel Spolosky of Stackoverflow (google it), and he said something along the same lines, minus the uniforms. We’re moving everyone locally, it used to work, but now, not so much…
Nigel Stratton
on 01 Apr 11Loved the “all sitting at the kitchen table” bit… although the unisex one-piece uniform came a close second.
ted
on 01 Apr 11Sounds just like my days at EDS.
Pishab
on 01 Apr 11Wait, didn’t
Steve
on 01 Apr 11Please, please, please do a mockup of the uniform. That would be kinda awesome to see.
Jay Schumacher
on 01 Apr 11Where can I order one of those uniforms? I need new pajamas.
Christine Cooper
on 01 Apr 11At first I thought WTF? Please say it ain’t so. Ok, ya had me punked for a few minutes.
@elamadej
on 01 Apr 11Come on guys! I am sure you made that ground breaking decision ONLY after Jason saw the new 37signals Company Handbook Applicake made with our game-changing instant company handbook generator:
http://instantcompanyhandbook.com/
Jason, David – does it mean we’re already helping you take 37signals to the next level? ;-)
Marcopolo
on 01 Apr 11Excellent, I believed it 5 seconds
Aaron
on 01 Apr 11You got me :)
Anonymous Coward
on 01 Apr 11SNARK SNARK SNARK
Antoine Solomon
on 01 Apr 11I was reading this and a tear came out of my eye…!!! Then i realize it’s April 1st..
Liam
on 01 Apr 11Hehe, didn’t believe it after the meetings bit. If the guys have worked so well so far then why change it :)
Paul
on 01 Apr 11Unfortunately, I believe our CFO would think these are great steps forward, Ugh!
Karen
on 01 Apr 11Just bought and started reading the Rework book for inspiration and saw this headline. I couldn’t believe it true so started reading the comments. Forgot it is April Fool’s!
April Furst
on 01 Apr 11How could you do this? My husband and I like working from our home office in Vancouver!
Joe
on 01 Apr 11Glad to see you guys have finally grown to a point where you need a true corporate culture. My only question is when does Hawaiian Shirt Friday’s start?
JLB
on 01 Apr 11It’s about time you started to take your business seriously. A couple of suggestions, standardized hair styles. Crew-cuts will eliminate the distraction of hair in the face, combing, etc. Also implementing a mandatory physical fitness regime will reduce healthcare costs. Nothing like brisk 5-mile jogs every morning at 6AM to increase productivity.
Ian
on 01 Apr 11You should also start charging for personal calls and switch toilet paper to single ply, except in the partner only washroom of course.
Ahmad
on 01 Apr 11APRIL FOOLS!!!!
Dormi
on 01 Apr 11In Spain fools day is on 28th december. It took me some time to figure this out. The uniforms part helped. Still scared.
Mason
on 01 Apr 11Best joke I’ve seen today. It didn’t hit me until half way through : )
Anonymous
on 01 Apr 11This is less believable than Basecamp on floppy disks.
Jon
on 01 Apr 11Funny. You should have had a uniform made and posted a picture of @DHH in it.
warambil
on 01 Apr 11I want to think this is a joke. If not, I could never believe in u again, I mean. I admire your work and the way you think guys but this change is so so dramatic that sucks!
I really hope this is a joke! Otherwise, I won’t ever read about u again.
Corey McMahon
on 01 Apr 11I knew when I read the headline this had to be AF’s! Nicely done guys.
Carlo
on 02 Apr 11Wow. This basically describes a company I used to work for….ha!
kyktommy
on 02 Apr 11I cannot believe of that.
Spacehamster
on 02 Apr 11Believe it or not, I work for an employer that has adopted all of these policies. They’ve even forced everyone to use iMacs and expect 99% uptime from their employees. Only they’ve used cubicles rather than kitchen tables. This has resulted in low productivity and morale – not to mention high staff turnover.
So thanks for the laugh – I needed it.
Jack
on 02 Apr 112 hr meetings were the first red flag, well done :-)
Devang Kamdar
on 02 Apr 11Would love to take a look at that uniform you had in mind – “unisex, one-piece, uniform that is functional and minimalist” ... Just for the fun of it :) ... Any sketches or prototypes? :) Happy Fools day!
Isaac
on 02 Apr 11LIKE! Chicago is so cool!
Valarie
on 02 Apr 11Maybe all of us who use 37signal should get one of those unisex uniforms to wear as well. April fools! Very funny!
Pies
on 02 Apr 11Awesome, you’ve had me for a bit :)
Michael Max
on 02 Apr 11he he he… Yes. And the beatings will continue until morale improves!
n
on 02 Apr 11About time!
dustyfruit
on 02 Apr 11nice you had me good on this. for like ten minutes i was thinking what a mistake these guys were making and then it hit me that it was the first.
Nic Perry
on 02 Apr 11I’ll admit, I fell for it. I was rather heartbroken, but I fell for it. The one-piece uniform and working around the kitchen seemed like crazy ideas, but I still fell for it.
Actually I clicked through to see if there was a picture of the one-piece uniform, I was picturing a mechanic jumpsuit personally…
Carlos S
on 02 Apr 11You guys did good!!!
Hristo
on 02 Apr 11If you could see the look on my face when I started reading…
Alexander Polyakov
on 03 Apr 11You did get me! Nicely done.
Tommy Jarnac
on 03 Apr 11I fell for it too… It was almost believable :-)
Anonymous
on 03 Apr 11I would be quite concerned that so many people fell for this.
Phil Willis
on 03 Apr 11Oh boy – you had me for the first two paragraphs.
I was going to say: “Nice job for admitting that the situation has changed and what used to work no longer works.”
Now I’m just going to say: “You got me. You got me good.”
And here I was feeling sorry for all the people that would have to pack up and move to Chicago.
Cheers —Phil
Alex Humphrey
on 04 Apr 11LOL, it took me about 3/4th down the post before I realized it was posted on April Fools! LOL, this was truly amazing
Luis
on 04 Apr 11You got me… almost. Well at least until around the third paragraph. Or I think it was the dress code: from the guy who wears jeans and t-shirts to speeches (which is cool, actually).
Paul
on 04 Apr 11You got me! The only thing that got my attention were iMacs chained to the desks :)
dimitris mistriotis
on 04 Apr 11The uniform thing triggered me army memories. At some point I felt like conscripted and had a small scale stress attack. Totally fell for this
Paul M. Watson
on 04 Apr 11The “chained to desk” bit triggered my bullshit alarm. Had me up till that point!
The unisex one-piece uniforms sound like a good idea though. I’d happily wear one if it means not having to decide what to wear each morning. Even my current “top of the pile” dressing method presents too much choice.
That and all nerds secretly desire a world like in Star Trek.
Michi Marzo
on 04 Apr 11I see what you did here.
Aurélien Montigny
on 04 Apr 11Nice one :-) Didn’t fall for it, but it was fun.
ShallowRed
on 04 Apr 11Nice prank. A new book called “Gettin Rework’d” with just 12 pages inked with some demotivational drawings would have been a nice prank too. :)
A Public Employee
on 04 Apr 11Sounds like my workplace ;-)
Hibiscus
on 04 Apr 11Got me too, I was hooked until the dress code. I might have been primed – just today I was musing with someone else about how your recent growth and the new office might affect other aspects of how you run your business.
I wish you all the best on your journey, and hope that we don’t find out as we go along that there are good reasons why big corporations are the way they are. I hope you can keep proving myths wrong.
Ahmed Nadar
on 04 Apr 11You got me in third paragraph. If you could see the look on my face when I started reading…!!!
While I was reading I felt like my entire future career is gone before it starts. Felt like all these REWORK advices are falling apart like Berlin Wall. I was shocked, especially while I’m always talking to my friends, colleague and family about how all companies should REWORK their work and ……………
I was this close to tears. Nicely done! :D
Jack
on 05 Apr 11Didn’t notice the date and started reading. “6 hours of status meetings? That’s 15% of work time”... WTF? “Chained down”, “no more lazy mode”... what is this? Then I got to “dress code” and thought “wait a minute… what’s the date on this”. Lovely! :D
Gelu
on 05 Apr 11You got me till the “sitting around a big table”. I’m so dumb… Great post.
Jevin
on 05 Apr 11It’s sad that some people reading this won’t even get the joke. ;-)
Anonymous Coward
on 05 Apr 11just got rework. was about to go burn it. lol
Niki Van Cleemput
on 05 Apr 11Seriously :D Got me all the way to the end (dresscode).
Nice one :D
Anonymous Coward
on 05 Apr 11Phew. Got to nearly half the article before the chuckles set in. Nicely done!:)
silpriss
on 06 Apr 11nice one dhh. u r still the sexiest hacker alive on earth.
Ben Morris
on 06 Apr 11What is funny is that this came through on my google reader feed today (4 days late) so my April fools radar was disengaged… making me an easier mark.
cbmeeks
on 06 Apr 11Don’t laugh…these are pretty much the exact rules for the company I work for. Very corp America.
This discussion is closed.