We are always looking for this place. It’s like the perfect company or perfect project to work on.

A place where we can work and fell we are delivering our best.

A place where we can work just enough.

A place where we can think when needed and work on discovery activities. We can also focus on delivery and have quality continuous time to work.

A place where communication is easy.

A place where we can focus on what’s important now. Priority is a possibility not an utopia.

A place where you don’t need to become part of some “AM” club. You can deliver good hours of sleep and it’s fine to talk about this.

A place where you don’t need to answer messages when you are not focused on answering messages. There may be some emergencies, but they will be real ones. You can disable notifications.

A place where you don’t need to work on Sundays or holidays… you don’t need to work late nights, unless you believe it’s worth (it’s usually not worth).

A place where you don’t need to be in order to be there. You can work anywhere. You are expected to deliver and plan and replenish your own work.

A place where you can understand who can help you deliver your work as you also share how can you help people deliver what they need. You are aware of your skills and you are resourceful.

There are lots of companies where you can find “features” like that. But you know what? It’s not enough.

We need places where people can feel safe. Maslow talks about safety needs. This is not a new idea. One of Deming’s management points is to drive out fear. Project Aristotle fist topic is about “psychological safety”. Joshua Kerievsky bring Safety to the Modern Agile structure.

We need places where people want to eliminate friendly fire. There may exist toxic people in your company, creating doubt and problems where solutions would be created. You don’t need those people, even if they are top performers.

We need places where people listen. Non violent communication (NVC) is a great helper. NVC is more about the way you listen than the way you talk. You need to become responsible for the communication and responsible to sustain the communication flow.

We need places where we don’t need to think about what people may think about what we say. We can just say what we need. People will listen, or people will ask questions to understand our need. Make sure you have people that you can ask to listen to you. Activate your safety network.

If you need someone to listen to you, maybe I can help.

— Daniel Wildt