#100 Matt Mullenweg: Collaboration Is Key

Knowledge Project

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways “Open-source is a hack that gets competitors to work together” Matt Mullenweg Humans outcompeted all other animals because they could collaborateThat’s why in the long run, open-source software will win every market that’s inWith open-source software, you get the opposite of the tragedy of the commonsEach person working in his self-interest makes the thing betterWorking together in person gets people closer, in a way that you can’t replicate onlineKnowing that this is an issue you have to actively invest to improve relationships with co-workersAutomattic’s “Secret Sauce” is to get people to get together in-person 3-4 times annually “Make reversible decisions quickly and irreversible ones deliberately” Tony Schneider (early business partner)If it’s a reversible one you’ll learn a lot more by doing it, rather than debating it for weeksMatt never wanted Automattic to take over the market for WordPress paid servicesYou have to capture enough, but always less than the value you create for others“It’s very difficult to drive World-changing performance if it’s just for a paycheck, or just for your personal benefit, you need to be connected to something larger” Matt Mullenweg

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Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress, the open platform that runs most of the sites you visit and the CEO of Automattic. In this episode Matt and Shane discuss distributed work, the 5 levels of autonomous organizations, decision making, running an organization with more than 1300 people, integrating acquisitions and so much more.

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