Basecamp's Culture Shift and Lessons Learned

What if a controversial policy decision could reshape a company's culture and identity for the better? That's what we, Jason and David, discovered when we implemented a new policy at Basecamp to separate work and politics, sparking employee resignations and negative media coverage. In this episode, we dive into the effects of this decision and reflect on the incredible growth we've experienced since then.

Join us as we discuss the outcomes of that decision, emphasizing the importance of separating work and home life while shedding light on the vibe within our now 80-person strong company. We explore the challenges and opportunities faced during a major shift in company culture, and how to navigate the aftermath of a difficult period to foster growth and newfound ambition. Listen in and learn how we turned a tough situation into a valuable learning experience that redefined Basecamp's identity and direction.

Transcript

Basecamp's Political Discussion Policy Decision

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to Rework a podcast by 37 Signals about the better way to work and run your business. I'm your host, kimberly Rhodes. Our last two podcast episodes have been Ask Me Anything episodes, and this week we want to continue with one last question that we thought deserved its own episode. I'm joined by the co-founders of 37 Signals, jason Freed and David Heinemeyer Hansen, and our question comes from Jeffrey Gibson, who writes I'm a cardiac surgeon in Nashville and I follow DHH, jason and 37 Signals because they have so much to teach about how to run a small business.

Speaker 1 0:31

I read mostly online about the employee resignations in 2021 at 37 Signals, as well as the statements put forth by Jason and David. I was disappointed with the negative slant of many of the articles. Basecamp implodes by the verb, for example. To them I say the reports of Basecamp's implosion have been greatly exaggerated. The implication was that the company was failing because of a common-sense business decision Don't talk about politics on work forums. I think this is a smart move and I would like to hear an update about how the policy is working, mostly interested for what it teaches other companies, but also as a middle finger to biased hot take negative reporting. Or is it too soon, love the podcast and everything about the company. I wish I could go back and change my major in college. Jeffrey, i feel like we need cardiac surgeons.

Speaker 2 1:19

I was going to say do we have an opening for cardiac surgeons? David, do you want to take this?

Speaker 3 1:25

Yeah, i think this is one of those things where time is one of the most important ingredients in evaluating any decision of any kind That there is just so many unknowns. When something like that happens to a company where you don't want, trying to offer a definitive version of that, like three months later, six months later is impossible. But now it's been two years and it's clear, to me at least, that this was one of the most important decisions we've ever made as a company And I would also chalk it up to one of the decisions I'm most proud of as ever making, because this was an incredibly difficult decision and period to live through, particularly the immediate aftermath and sort of being in it. That was absolutely awful. And yet here we are two years later, and all the things we just talked about, like being a company with principles that stand for something and is the kind of place to work that we want to work, has shown itself to be immensely enhanced by that decision. It's almost to a point where, if you had tried to tell me like the positive outcomes we would have arrived at today versus where we were then, i would have thought, like you know what, that's too good of a story to be true. I also think there's just something again in time, of that moment 2021, was just at the Senate of a bunch of things happening broadly in society that was really just turned up to 11 or even 15 for a moment And that's just been turned down Like all the stuff that were focused around these discussion.

Speaker 3 3:07

It seems like in a lot of companies not just in ours have receded somewhat, but they've receded far more at our company than I think at most because we had such a clean break. We're like you know what? this is not the company we want. We want the company to be like this that we can have people come here and they can come from all sorts of political backgrounds We're not going to discuss those things and they can work together and we can see each other's humanity in that and around the work And you can go be whoever you want to be outside of work. Right, like this was part of renegotiating this separation between work and home, which is something we've always been on about. We've always been 40 hours is enough. You don't need more than eight to have the separation, but we'd let it drift somewhat, just like most tech companies have right.

Speaker 3 3:52

I mean the joke or the slam against a lot of tech companies. They were adult daycares. They're like oh, you can get your laundry done, you can get your meals prepared, you can have like a whole almost living at home situation. But you're in your 20s or 30s or 40s at a company campus. Yet no wonder it gets blurry What's my out of work self and what's my at work self. And I think we have fallen into that somewhat to some degree and really renegotiating that and saying like, hey, 30 Simpsons is a place where you come to do great work with kind, caring co-workers who you will engage with on fun projects that simulate your show. That's enough. It doesn't have to be more than that, it doesn't have to be all of it, it doesn't have to be all of you. You don't have to bring all of you to work. You can bring sort of your best work self and your best colleague self and your best Creative self. Is that not?

Speaker 3 4:53

enough white white. Can that be enough, right, and then we can go off and be our our own expressive selves out of work to. I think that separation To me has been just really clarifying, also just for me personally. I use to engage in all sorts of discussions of different kinds at work that i just i wouldn't do today, and i feel like It's just much better for so. I mean, in summary, i mean we are now just under eighty people.

Speaker 3 5:19

I feel like we've never been this large and have that good of a vibe inside the company. It's a smaller vibe it is getting doesn't try to encompass all of it, but within the scope that we Designate it intently. That that's it. That's what we're gonna focus on together. It's incredible, i really feel just so. I mean i was about to say hashtag blessed here, but i'm really getting so be but like of the opportunity to work with people from so many different places. We just talked about the hiring right. Like we hire all over the place. We have such an incredibly The first group of people who work here from all over the world. Also, the backgrounds were coming together to make great software.

Speaker 3 6:01

Yeah, you know what that's that's great i wish there was more of that where we could just accept, like the finite space of something And, just like you know, that's enough, it's plenty, it's more than enough, right? i don't want more of it. I don't want more of you. I don't want more of your time. I don't want more of your brain. I don't want more of your heart. It can just be like this. Forty hours that we spent together is not wonderful.

Speaker 3 6:24

So, yes, i will say that that experience, living through that, change my perspective on a lot of things, and one of them was media reports, and i try And it's hard for anyone, is that's hard for me? well, to use an experience like that like a mirror. To which extent did i participate in, like Hi long space on media reports that were Compiled through a very slanted set of Either facts or testimonials that obviously we're gonna come from a certain direction? i look at that very differently now, after having been through a meat grinder like that, like oh, do you know what you can really come out with that and see things from a certain language if you're completely distorted sense of what reality can also be I'm so that definitely changed my mind a lot of things. I think My personal sense is that the media in general hasn't been covering itself in glory for for a bit now, not just on that point, but a lot of points, and that's been sort of illuminating.

Speaker 3 7:27

But yeah, i would not trade that decision. I would not go back for any amount of money for anything in. I would literally rather, as jason i joked at the time before, before it wasn't so funny like before was like i'd rather, like i'd rather work in the field. I'd rather do something entirely different, change my profession, then continue to work at the company as it was. So that was also kind of what gave us the, i think, impetus or kind of nudge to do it. You know what? we don't have to work here. We could also just quit, and you know what i thought about quitting more time than i care to count Around that time. So okay, if this goes sour and it, i mean it did go sour in a variety of ways, but not terminally so then okay, that was, that was the end of it. And now we're at the other side and we like all right, we made the the gamble to some extent it was a gamble, right, like jason Recently post about the founders job is to inject risk into the business.

Speaker 3 8:32

This was perhaps the biggest risk we've ever taken on anything that we've ever done. A certain you can't out that way. I'm, and that's exactly why i'm so proud of us going through with it nonetheless and then thankfully being able to be on the other side live to tell the tale right, because it could also have gone a different way. I mean, there, company stop being companies all the time for all sorts of reasons. This could have been one of those reasons, not Sort of a third of the company left, but like everyone left and then there wouldn't be any more company and then that would be the end of it and Okay. So those were the stakes and we often talk about like would you know what? we don't take risks that risk the company. This was one of those things it.

Speaker 3 9:14

It, yeah, it risked the company for a moment. Thankfully, the risk didn't turn out dire and and here we are, two years later and it feels this is the other thing That's so funny about time It doesn't feel like two years, it feels like ten. It really feels like ten years ago that, oh yeah, there was that thing like two years doesn't feel like it's that long ago. If you like, you hear a song on the radio that just came out right now. No, as actually three and a half years old. Oh yeah, all right, this thing it feels like it's ten years ago. But, yeah, ever more fondly I'm looking back on that decision, which isn't itself is at the seat you should be careful about. I mean, nostalgia has a way to erase all the hard parts And you just remember the sunny side of it. I don't want to forget that. It was absolutely awful for a good solid two, three weeks And then it was hard for a number of months afterwards, but it's been freaking amazing for a long time now.

Speaker 2 10:05

The only thing I would add that was a really complete and lovely summary of it. The thing I would add is what I learned is be careful making other decisions in the fog of a decision that you made. So we made this decision to signal politics at work, and then we made a variety of other decisions rapidly, in this sort of moral panic moment after that, some of which I regret, some of which I wouldn't have made again, and it's a good reminder that, like when you're in that situation, you got to find a way to just Remember that a year from now, you probably, if you look back, there will be decisions that you make in that fog that you didn't want to make. We were very comfortable making that initial decision, but there's probably a few others that we made that we weren't that comfortable with and I wish we wouldn't have made them. But when you're in this moment, you're you're you're shuffling, you're, you're slipping, you, you're, you're scared and It's, and you make some other permanent decisions that that aren't the ones you'd like to do.

Speaker 2 11:06

So I think that's just something that stuck with me. Whenever there's some stressful decision to be made or some moment where Of indecision, i just try to think like how will this feel a year from now if we do this? Because right now it might really hurt, but a year from now It's probably the right thing to do. So I always project ahead and look back. That's what I'm doing now at least. Yeah, that was a good thing to do, and we'll just wait a year and this whole, all this pain, will be away And we won't make any other mistakes along the way. So that's sort of a lesson that I'm taking from this, beyond all the other things that David said.

Change and Growth in Company

Speaker 1 11:38

That's great. Okay, i have a follow-up question. I wasn't here during the 2021, but I'm curious if having so many People leave all at the same time Allowed you guys to kind of have a fresh start, i mean changing a company culture. I think when there's everyone still there might be harder than Moving forward when there's, you know, fresh people coming in.

Speaker 2 12:00

It was a major reset, obviously, yeah, i mean, you know, on so many different levels, like the reason we are where we are today Is because of that, and that we're doing two products at once and about to work on a third product. It was a reboot there. It was a reboot of our ambition. There's a lot of reboots that happened and it was a perfect moment to do that. And, like you said, you can't, it's very difficult. I shouldn't say you can't, but it'd be very difficult to manufacture that moment again.

Speaker 2 12:24

Sometimes a moment hits you and you need to take advantage of it if you want to make some change, and that is That's when you dig in and you make many, many changes, because change is on your side. At that point, changes in motion. Just go and make new changes, so that's. It's a, again, the blessing thing. It's like, it's a wonderful thing to have happened to you in a moment where you get a chance to reconsider something It's been around for a long time. It's different if you've been around for two years. We've been around for 20 plus years. At that moment, it's very hard to change organizations been around for 20 years. But change was, you know, essentially foisted upon us and we took advantage of it and made some big moves, and I think that's also, frankly, a great cure for boredom, which is making big moves, and We're making some more. We're working on another product right now which people find out about next year, and And some other things, so that's that's pretty exciting, and I don't think we would have gotten here had that not happened.

Speaker 3 13:22

I think that's the clarity that you somehow Emerge with when you go through something really difficult. I mean, for us as a company, if you look at it that way, it was kind of like getting a Very like a bad disease or something that it realized. Oh shit, i'm really gonna Reassess everything in my life. I'm gonna take stock of everything, like what matters to me, who am I? where we're going? like all the big questions just rain down over you when you go through something That's really difficult and those questions just they don't pop up in the daily. I was gonna say grind, i don't feel like that's what we do here. But the daily gears turning, they just have like, okay, you're on the clock frequency, you're just, you're going with the motions. It's very difficult to truly step out, having to be forced upon you to reconsider everything, like what do you stand for? What do you wanna fold over? When do you wanna give up? And then go like, okay, no, we're not gonna fold, we're not gonna give up, we're gonna persevere and go through it.

Speaker 3 14:24

Life looks different on the other side. Again, i wouldn't do these comparisons as a one-to-one, but I find inspiration in reading about individuals who've gone through, for example, getting cancer and looking at a life sentence and like I have two years left to live. And usually you read the happy version of the story where the person is still alive 10 years later or 15 years later. That's why they can tell the story, but they go like do you know what? that was one of the best things that happened to me.

Speaker 3 14:51

It completely changed my outlook on life. What's important to me, who to spend my time with, what to spend my time on? all the fundamental questions of what it means to be human, the difficult questions to get in on the day-to-day. There's a funny TikTok meme that's basically you see someone get up in the morning and then you hear the cars honk, and then you see the person at the end of the day and just like, are you coming to bed, honey? And then it just loops right that your life can become monotonous in a way. That's perhaps comfortable and fine to some extent, but unless you have an opportunity to really break out of that, you don't get to ask the big questions and then maybe you don't get to ask them at all until it's too late and you go like, geez, what did I just waste 10 years of my life on, or 20 years of my life.

Company Identity and Growth

Speaker 3 15:40

I really wish I had done something else. I wish I had asked these questions. I don't know. I think companies go through that too. What does this company want to be, what does it want to stand for, What does it want to go, what do we want to try? And all that was forced to the point was, in a way, where we can now look at the fruits of that and go like man what a great place to be right now.

Speaker 3 15:59

So many things, so many lovers to be excited about and go like, okay, yeah, that was worth it, even though it was unsure in the moment whether it was going to be.

Speaker 1 16:10

Well, thank you guys for being so open and honest and answering that question. Jeffrey, thank you for your question. we're going to wrap it up. If you have any other questions for us, you can leave us a voicemail at 708-628-7850. You can also send us an email at rework at 37signalscom. Rework is a production of 37signals. You can find show notes and transcripts on our website at 37signalscom. slash podcast.