new client guide to the nearsoft galaxy v0 6

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Page 1: New Client Guide to the Nearsoft Galaxy v0 6

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Page 2: New Client Guide to the Nearsoft Galaxy v0 6

Table of Contents Welcome 3 

Agreement Highlights 3 

The Kickoff 6 

Recruiting 7 

Talent Development 9 

Investing in the Future 10 

Orientation 13 

Where Are They? 14 

Infrastructure 15 

Team Integration 16 

Self Development 18 

Self­Governance Framework 19 

Operating Principles 24 

Benchmarks 27 

Nice Digs 30 

Recurring Events 33 

Annual Events 35 

Innovation Programs 38 

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Welcome to our Galaxy. We are really glad that you are here. It means that we have found another team that is passionate about creating great software products while having fun together.

Agreement Highlights

Dollars and sense We have agreed to invoice you a flat weekly rate for 49 weeks per year. The other three weeks are on us: two weeks of vacation, and five days of Personal Time Off.

If your team, on either side of the border, needs to consult with anybody at Nearsoft, they are free to do so. We are here to help you succeed.

We want to keep the dollars-and-cents part of our relationship as simple as possible, so we don't have to dither over hours and fees all the time. Instead, we want to get to work making great products that we can all be proud of.

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It Isn't About Limits This does not imply that we will limit ourselves to 40 hours every week. Sometimes, in spite of the best planning, it takes extra time and effort to push a release out the door. Like any other member of your team, we will be there to push like the best of them.

However, this mode of operation should be the exception, not the rule. Nobody will benefit from having people burn out from multiple 60-hour weeks. If we see that happening, we'll work with you to address the issue.

Maybe, we can arrange to add some temporary help; or we can call on somebody expert on a particular technology; or one of our senior folks can jump in to suggest an architectural change; or maybe we can suggest process changes that we've seen work with other teams.

It Is About Being Productive This does imply that if, say, a developer is less than fully busy, we will still invoice the full weekly rate. This hardly ever happens, and when it does, we make sure that it doesn't go on for long. Once we notice the pattern, we will have a discussion to try and correct the situation.

We are very careful to hire people who are passionate about what they do, and are eager to

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do their thing. We are not looking to get paid for doing nothing. In fact, doing nothing and not being busy enough is very costly for us because that's the quickest way to lose a valuable employee. It also affects the morale of everybody else in the company, to see somebody sitting around doing less than they are capable of.

No Handcuffs We are in this together for the long term. And that is why our agreement is for 24 months and it then renews automatically for 12 months every year thereafter. For an ongoing, working relationship, this is the simple way to keep the required legalities up to date with the least amount of effort (we can both use the extra energy to focus on the product instead).

We know it takes a deep breath (or two) before committing to "forever." People who struggle with this the most are the most serious about commitment. They don't take it lightly, so signing up to it, is a serious step for them. And for us, too. But once we take this step, we will truly commit to making it work. We are in it for the long haul.

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On the other hand, if the relationship does not work for any reason, then we both have a way out. A simple, no-questions-asked goodbye email, from either party, is all it takes to formally end the Agreement without penalties or regrets within 30 days. If either of us is unhappy with the relationship, and we cannot fix it, no matter how hard we try, then it's best to go our separate ways without the drama.

The Kickoff Finally, we get down to staffing your team. And to do that, we need to know who it is that will best fit your needs. This is the goal of the Kickoff.

The Kickoff team usually consists of a couple of senior technical people expert in your technology, your point recruiter, and our Kickoff Master, Julio Gonzalez. They will meet with the appropriate people in your company (e.g., VPE/CTO, Product Owner) to understand how your existing team works. In addition to the technical job requirements and the roles to be filled, these folks will want to learn about your infrastructure, the tools you use, the process you follow, and about your culture.

By the end of it we should have a pretty good idea of 1) the type of person we should look for, and 2) any other actions we need to take in

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your behalf.

After this meeting, the technical folks in the Kickoff team will continue to work with our recruiting team to help them identify candidates who will fit best technically and culturally.

Here's the Kickoff document template . 1

Recruiting When it comes to recruiting, we do all the heavy lifting. We'll find them. We'll make sure they can hold a conversation in English. We'll check their knowledge of Computer Science concepts and good practices. We will watch them in action by Pair Programming with them. By the end of it, we'll have a very good idea of whether or not the candidate is a good fit technically and culturally.

If she get a thumbs up, then we'll ask you to talk to her and do a final check.

Even though you will work primarily with your point recruiter, our whole recruiting team will do their part in staffing your team.

Every week your assigned recruiter will send you an activity summary to keep you up to 2

date on the status of your candidates.

1 http://j.mp/nearsoft-kickoff 2 http://j.mp/nearsoft-recruiting-summary

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Here's visual presentation of what we call A Candidate's Journey . 3

How Do We Find Them? Many of them find us. By now, we have made a nice name for ourselves as a "cool" place to work. In fact, we are officially a Great Place to Work and have been in the Top 20 in Mexico since we first applied to this program, back in 2008.

Nevertheless, we still have to look for candidates. Particularly, people who are not looking for another job. But then again, Nearsoft is not just another job. It is a place where people can come to learn and grow, and they can work with the latest technologies, apply best practices, and work with remarkable people to create products that they can be proud of.

People who love technology find this compelling, and it helps us to attract and retain great talent.

3 http://nearsoft.com/blog/a-candidates-journey-slides/

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Talent Development

Talent Incubator Every so often we find a diamond in the rough among the many candidates we go through. It's fairly easy to tell when this is the case because the interviewing team gets excited about the candidate and really, really wants to bring her into our team.

In these cases a candidate with lots of potential and otherwise great skills may not have hands-on experience with a design or development practice (e.g., Unit Testing).

With all the talent we already have in-house, we can afford to train these candidates and help them shine in a relatively a short time. And that's what we do in the Talent Incubator.

We hire these almost-ready candidates, at full pay, and they get up to three months' worth of training, as needed.

Office Hours If they are not fit for the Talent Incubator, then we may offer them help via our Office Hours program.

For this program, one or two interviewers volunteer to mentor the candidate a few hours

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a week.

This gives the candidate the chance to ask questions, seek advice, find out about tools, seminars, books, and other resources to help them grow.

This is also good for the company in that it keeps the candidate connected to Nearsoft and thus we don't waste our recruiting investment. Our bet is that they eventually get to a point where we can consider them again as a credible candidate. When that happens, that's great and we add another terrific member to the team. When it doesn't, then that's fine, too, in that we've given back to our community.

Investing in the Future Although we primarily hire people with previous experience, we also invest in the future. We are fortunate to be surrounded by plenty of universities with good Computer Science programs.

From there, we have a progression of programs to help college students become the type of well-rounded contributor that we look for.

Apprentice The Apprentice program is for college freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. In this program, volunteer mentors take responsibility

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for teaching these kids what's important in their particular area of interest, be it computer science, graphics design, or UI design.

Our main goals are to,

1. Help them decide if this really is their avocation.

2. If it is, then figure out what's important to learn.

3. How are they going to use what they learn to contribute to a better world?

We use lectures, workshops, etc., to keep them interested and involved.

Student of Excellence For Seniors, we have the Student of Excellence (SofE) program. With the help and participation of peers and professors, this program identifies and recognizes the most well rounded seniors. And, we hope, future members of the Nearsoft Academy.

Nearsoft Academy Finally, they're done with their academic requirements and they are now ready for their six-month internship (i.e., required for graduation in Mexico). That's when they get to join the Nearsoft Academy.

Their entrance requirements for the Academy are the same as for any candidate,

● They must speak good conversational

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English (reading and writing English is a given), and

● They must be able to successfully pass our Logic Test . 4

While in the Academy, they get to work in an Open Source project. They read books, blogs, and lots of existing code. When it's time, they start to actually submit contributions.

In parallel, they are expected to write blog posts and give group talks about their journey.

Only a few are invited to stay at Nearsoft.

These programs have already brought us and our community great "returns," both tangible and intangible. Most importantly, we've helped all its graduates to walk away with a meaningful portfolio that makes better prepared and more attractive candidates.

The ultimate goal is to help these young people grow and become independent thinkers.

Check out this Nearsoft Academy 5

presentation.

4 http://j.mp/nearsoft-logic-test 5 http://nearsoft.com/blog/the-nearsoft-academy/

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Orientation Once we hire a new person, there's still another step they have to go through before they join your team. They first go through a week of Orientation . 6

During their first week they get to meet everyone at Nearsoft through a series of lunches; they get to set up their new hardware and software; and, most importantly, they take Orientation classes.

We are a very flat organization and there are no managers to tell people what to do. Most people are not used to this setting, to say the least. At Nearsoft they get to behave as adults and be fully responsible at work. As desirable as this may sound on paper, it is still disorienting when people are first immersed in it. Meeting people and the Orientation classes are a big help in this regard.

If by the end of this first week they haven't run away screaming, then we are fairly sure that they are ready to join our team and do great at it.

6 http://j.mp/new-emp-handbook-nearsoft

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Where Are They? Most of the time, you'll find them in our offices. But at times they may be working at home or elsewhere.

Work from Home People can choose to work from home as they see fit. Of course, you'll know when that's the case; in fact, everybody in their team will know, too. That's part of the practice: to let people who depend on you know where they can find you. Being present and available online is key. 7

Working from home for longer periods may also become a necessity due to circumstances out of peoples' control (e.g., broken limb, sick child).

Working Remote Twice a year people may choose to work remotely for up to four weeks. This is particularly important for people who are from somewhere other than where our offices are at. We have people from all over Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Germany, France, and Syria.

Hanging out with family, for example, is important and something we want to support. Four weeks is about the right time to catch up with faraway family and friends while not

7 http://j.mp/nearsoft-presence

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completely detaching from their team.

Infrastructure If we need special equipment or software, we are going to find that out at the Kickoff and maybe a follow up meeting or two to get all the details cleared up.

We'll work with you to make sure that these are available to your team by the time they join. The Kickoff team, and our IT Ninjas will work with you to help get this done.

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Team Integration Adding a new member to your team is never "easy," but it doesn't have to be complicated, even if the new person is in your other office.

The first critical step is hiring good, talented people who are nevertheless a good fit culturally. This does not mean drinking the Kool-Ai or being doomed to groupthink. We want new people to have a positive impact and add to the team. It starts with value fit, and a fitting communication style. So we don't hire egomaniacal jerks, even if they are technically brilliant. Life's too short.

Bonding Face to Face We've found it a very good practice to have new developers spend time in your US office. This works particularly well at the start of the engagement. In some cases, where the majority of the team is in Mexico, it may make more sense to have people from the US travel to Mexico instead.

Either way, the trip is short and inexpensive and helps the team bond as a team.

Daily Standups This practice is a must. Every time we've let it slide and don't enforce the practice of having

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daily meetings, there's been a price to pay. So for everybody's sake, we've become fanatical about it.

It is great that we all work in the same time zone and can chat and talk all day long throughtout the day, but the Standup meetings are still a must.

They are a critical tool for not letting little problems become big problems.

Did we say that they are a must?

Escalation? If ever there's an issue with one of the Nearsoft people, our advice is to first speak with them. We hire people who can handle direct feedback and this way nothing gets lost in translation.

If that doesn't correct the situation, it may be time to involve other people from the Nearsoft side. In that case, please speak with Julio Gonzalez and either Roberto Martinez, or Matt Perez, depending on which one of us is more familiar with you and your company. We'll take it from there.

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Self Development

360 Assessments We do the first one of these three months after an employee joins Nearsoft. Follow up Assessments are done every six months thereafter.

These are focused completely on performance (i.e., are not related to compensation). The intent is to give people feedback so they can better direct their own development.

Compensation Reviews These are held once a year for each employee and are scheduled to not coincide with Assessments. These reviews are held by a Leadership Team made up of the employee's peers.

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Self-Governance Framework

A flat organization like ours doesn't have people "at the top" telling everybody else what to do. Still, we need to move together in one direction—flat does not imply chaos. Instead, we use a clear, well defined self-governance framework that allows us to act in concert with one another.

David Vik "Coach" Zappos

When everyone knows it, they can get behind it, and then they don’t have to be told what to do

We are supported by our Values, guided by our Principles, lead by our Vision, and inspired by our Noble Cause.

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Noble Cause Our Noble Cause is our long-term compass is 8

to,

Promote technology entrepreneurship in Mexico and beyond.

Making money is the function of every business, Nearsoft included. This is necessary but not sufficient for a long-lasting, successful business.

A sustainable business must also be a source of meaning and happiness for its stakeholders, particularly its employees. And that's not just a pie-in-the-sky thing: it increases engagement and loyalty and keeps turnover very low. Happy people are also more effective and innovative.

Vision In 2012 we came up with a new five-year vision,

● To be recognized as one of the top technology innovators in Mexico.

● To become a top international destination for professional and personal growth.

● To be a source of happiness for our

8 http://j.mp/nearsoft-noble-cause

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employees and communities. ● To reach $40M in market cap by 2017.

We don't know exactly how we are going to accomplish them, but they all seem doable.

Values The way we arrived at our Values is an interesting and illuminating story in itself.

We did it as a team by playing Innovation Games . We started with Prune the Product 9

Tree to identify what was important to people.

From the tons of yellow stickers on the "trees," we narrowed it down to 14 values. That was still too many to be easily remembered by

9 http://innovationgames.com

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mere humans.

We then played Buy a Feature, where each Value was given a "price," and everybody got a certain amount of "money." The way we structured it, nobody could buy a feature alone.

After much discussion and fun, we came down to these five values.

● Commitment ● Leadership ● Long-Term Relationships ● Smart & Get Things Done ● Teamwork

When we are well aligned around these values, they can help us get through the rough spots.

Commitment We are clear on what we commit to and, just as importantly, what we cannot commit to. Then, we do what we say and don't look for excuses for not doing it. Commitment generates expectations and we fulfill them.

On the other hand, we try not to be heroes. Better to have a plan. Heroes die young and we want to be around for a while.

Leadership We have no titles or hierarchy.

Everybody is encouraged to take leadership whenever needed.

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Expect us to, as one client put it, "push back on directives, and challenge the project plans to come up with the best long term solution."

Long-Term Relationships From our point of view, real value in the software business comes when people meld as a team around a product vision. That's the first step to success. And the reason why we don't work on "projects:" our contribution would be minimal.

Smart & Gets Things Done You expect us to staff your team with smart, experienced people. But that's just the start. We also look for ways to deliver more, save time, eliminate useless work, and leverage our efforts.

If we can do it faster with a better tool, we'll get it.

If we can improve quality by changing our process, we'll change it.

And if we fail, then we'll learn from it and do it better next time around because we'll know what not to do.

Teamwork We do not believe in heroics, but in our

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collective intelligence.

Your team has access to everybody else in the company and can count on them for help with whatever obstacles come up.

"If you're stuck, ask for help!" Everybody is happy to help out. They know from experience how valuable an extra set of eyes (and ears) can be.

Operating Principles In addition to our explicit values, the company operates following a number of principles, including Transparency, Dignity, and Decentralization.

Transparency The company operates very transparently to its employees. For example, every month we share the state of our Finances with everybody. We even make salaries open and available to all employees.

We are also as transparent as possible with our clients. Flat, predictable weekly invoices. Detailed visibility into our recruiting process. We consult with our clients if it looks like a prospect might present a conflict (e.g., possible competitor); in fact, we have walked away from prospects that we considered "too close" for comfort. These are a few examples of how

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transparency applies in our relationship with our clients.

Dignity Great work, good money, and time to play with the kids (or friends, or your band, etc). These things are important at a personal level.

And so is dignity. We need to work at it to preserve it.

Check out this post for more details of our 10

thinking and what we communicate to every employee.

Decentralization People need to be directly involved in any decision that affects them directly. But not everybody can be included in every decision. We can't have a general vote on everything, lest we'll end up paralyzed.

We have defined a Decision Matrix to help us 11

include as many people as possible at different points of a decision. At a minimum, this eliminates surprises and help us leverage our collective smarts.

Notice that this even includes the decision to fire somebody (i.e., for performance). In that case, the person in question must be made aware that a decision is being made about his

10 http://j.mp/nearsoft-dignity 11 http://j.mp/nearsoft-decision-matrix

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future at Nearsoft before a final decision is made. She should at least have the opportunity to give input to the Leadership Team, but in the end it is this team that will decide to fire the person or not.

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Benchmarks

Great Place to Work It's not the mess you make, but how well you clean up after yourself. In 2013 we learned to clean up good.

For six years in a row, since we first applied to the program, Nearsoft had been ranked as a TOP 20 GPTW in Mexico. We started as #17 right out of the gate and moved steadily up. By 2012 we had made it to #8!

And then we dropped to #21 . 12

The drop was a wake up call. We took at good hard look at what had made us so successful for the first five years and we realized that we really didn't know. We had been growing all along. We developed a great brand as an "adult safe" place to work, where people could grow professionally and personally while working on leading edge technologies with the latest tools and equipment. That was all well and good.

As the company grew to over 100 people, we

12 http://j.mp/nearsoft-gptw-2013

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knew we needed to make some changes, but we were always soooo busy with the urgent that we didn't make time for the important. But dropping to #21 changed all that.

The traditional reaction would have been to declare the no-hierarchy "experiment" over. It worked while we were very small, but now we had to grow up, get serious, put our house in order, and get things under control. By Jove, these people were going to enjoy working at Nearsoft, or else.

Of course we didn't do any of this.

One of the key "problems" was our decision making process, or rather the lack thereof. It left people feeling that they didn't they had a voice in decisions that affected them. Luckily, we had hired well and our colleagues let us know in pretty clear terms that things had to change. So, we decentralized decision-making which has given us the bandwidth to make more decisions, with more diverse views, and to better document each decision.

We just started on this new path, but already we are seeing positive results. Seems that we cleaned up good and we are on track to be a much stronger, more democratic company, with a scalable foundation for growth.

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WorldBlu We have had the honor of being included into WorldBlu's list of Most Democratic Worplaces 13

for six years in a row!

This benchmark is based on their 10 Principles of Organizational Democracy , 14

1. Purpose and Vision 2. Transparency 3. Dialogue + Listening 4. Fairness + Dignity 5. Accountability 6. Individual + Collective 7. Choice 8. Integrity 9. Decentralization 10. Reflection + Evaluation

We have great company, including organizations like Zappos, DaVita, and WD-40.

13 http://j.mp/nearsoft-worldblu-awardees 14 http://j.mp/nearsoft-worldblu-principles

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Nice Digs

Hermosillo, Sonora In 2014 we moved to a brand new, custom-made building in Hermosillo, where the bulk of our folks are as of this writing.

The building accommodates approximately 140 people, a gym, a large conference room, and ample kitchen with indoor and outdoor sitting.

Interestingly, our landlord is a local foundation, Fundación Esposos Rodriguez. Established in 1946, the foundation today supports over 5,500 students with scholarships.

They approached us in 2012 about about becoming an anchor tenant for a new technology park they were planning at a prime

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location. In exchange for a long-term commitment on our part, they would make the building according to our specs. Even more attractive than that, our rent would contribute to their work of promoting education with scholarships.

Mexico City At the time of this writing, we have an office with room for 10 people. As it is, it is rather spartan in looks but well supported with high speed internet access, comfortable furniture, and the same quality equipment people have elsewhere at Nearsoft.

Future Office(s) We plan to open more offices over time,

● It makes it easier to recruit new talent. ● More people are happier working near

family.

We will let you know as soon as we decide to open a new one.

If we are just starting to staff your team, we'll discuss the choices with you at the Kickoff. On the other hand, if you already have a team in an existing office, then it will continue to grow it there (i.e., unless you tell us otherwise).

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Recurring Events

Monthly All Hands Second Thu of every month

We hold an All Hands meeting on the second Thursday of the month; it takes approximately two hours, from 11 am to 1 pm Hermosillo time. We gather everybody together to bring them up to speed on a bunch of things, including,

● Our revenue and expenses (actual vs expected), as well as sales and recruiting stats.

● We introduce new hires. ● Teams with something to announce/report

get to do it at this time. ● New Leadership Teams are announced;

concluding ones, present their results.

Friday Talks Every Fri we have a 45 minutes presentation on various topics (i.e., not just technical presentations). The general theme is to showcase leadership and entrepreneurship.

These talks are in Spanish and are streamed and open to the general public.

Besides contributing to the talent community these talks help us with branding and recruiting.

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Summer Talks One week every summer we give a series of technical presentation, many how-to talks.

These may involve people from your team but it won't impact the work they do for you. People love doing this and giving back.

Besides contributing to the community these talks help us with recruiting.

UX Clinic For one hour every week, a panel of experts in User Experience (UX), Interaction Design and Graphics Design hold a heuristic evaluation 15

for anybody who needs help in this area.

Sites or other material are submitted ahead of time; the team selects the ones they want to showcase; and, on the day of the Clinic, the panel gives feedback and advice to the submitter; this is followed by a Q&A with the submitter, and, time allowing, a Q&A with the audience.

We'll publish further details once the UX Clinic is ready for prime time, later in 2014.

15 http://j.mp/nearsoft-heuristic-evaluation

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Annual Events We hold a number of events every year to help our team create engagement, passion, teamwork, and to ultimately provide better service for our clients.

We need your support and involvement.

Team-building Day, Spring Edition First week of April, Fri

This is a day for Nearsoftians to get together, participate in fun, team building activities, develop soft skills, and recognize their teammates.

As we grow, we need to make sure that we continue to support a great culture that pays tangible and intangible dividends for you and us.

On this day your team will not be available for the whole day. As always, we'll work with you to accommodate special circumstances but we hope you can support us in helping your team participate and grow.

Innovation Hackathon First week of May, Thu-Fri

This is a client-only event. If you are a new client, you cannot miss being part of this. You’ll

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get to submit your challenges to the whole company and in return, you’ll get great results. We did our first Innovation Hackathon in 2013 and it was a resounding success for everybody 16

who participated in it.

During this week, on Mon-Wed you will get a chance to present your challenges to all participating developers. Then they assemble into teams around the selected challenges (i.e., we encourage them to work with people and clients that they don't normally work with).

If your challenge is selected, you will be invited to sit in the panel that selects the winners.

Check out the smiling faces the smiling faces 17

from previous Innovation Hackathons.

Client Summit, Spring Edition Second week of May, Fri

Come and meet with other Nearsoft clients and with our team to exchange ideas, best practices, how to impact your company’s culture, etc.

Summits take place in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Please plan to join us. And check out the smiling faces from previous Summits. 18

16 http://j.mp/nearsoft-innovation-hackathon 17 http://j.mp/nearsoft-innovation-hackathon-2013-pics 18 http://j.mp/nearsoft-summit-2013-pics

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Client Summit, Summer Edition Last week of August, Fri

If you cannot attend our Spring Summit, then this is another chance to be part of this experience.

Team-building Day, Fall Edition Last week of October, Fri

This is another day for Nearsoftians to review our progress towards our company goals, client commitments, and also to get ready and start the planning process for the coming year.

On this day, too, your team will not be available for the whole day. As always, we'll work with you to accommodate special circumstances but we hope you can support us in helping your team participate and grow.

Big Hackathon Mid November, Sat-Sun

This is an open Hackathon. We ran our first one in 2013 on the theme of Open Data and it worked really great. We had people in attendance from all over Mexico.

Join us!

This is a weekend event and does not affect your team's availability.

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Innovation Programs We want to be recognized as one of the top technology innovators in Mexico. Towards that goal, we have created two programs to help ourselves and the tech community around us to become more innovative.

Play, Discover, Innovate (PDI) This program is designed to encourage Nearsoftians to experiment with new ideas and technologies. We are not Google and our business model does not support something like their 20% time off . Nevertheless, we wanted 19

to carve out time for our folks to play, discover, and innovate.

The goals of the programs are to,

● Give employees a chance to re-energize ● Provide a source of innovation for our

clients ● Make Nearsoft more attractive to top

talent ● Promote tech entrepreneurship in our

community

Innovative ”Funding" We first thought of using mock "dollars" that we would divvy up among everybody in the

19 http://j.mp/nearsoft-google-20

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company and then they could use it to "fund" one idea or another. But "dollars" are only a means for buying time, so why not use "days" as currency, instead?

A day is very tangible to people. Mock dollars are somebody else's money and easier to give away. But a "a day of my life?" You'd better make me fall in love with your idea and convince me that it is going make the world a better place.

So, everybody in the company gets a PDI day. Just one.

To get more days, people have to persuade their colleagues to invest their PDI days on them.

Not Just for Techies Another innovation here is that this mechanism works for non-techies as well. If one of our Sales folks, for example, has a killer idea and others like it, they can raise "days" for their idea and use them to "fund" a couple of techie colleagues to get it implemented.

Just Rewards If it turns out that an idea can be commercialized, the people involved will get tangible benefit out of it, not just a pat in the back and dinner at Applebee's.

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Tech Incubator Over the years, Nearsoft has funded a few startups in Mexico and we'll continue to do so. The founders were Nearsoft employees and the funding came from Nearsoft in the form of a little bit of cash, office space, training, advice, and volunteer work from their Nearsoft colleagues.

Out of the three that we invested in, two have gotten funding from real investors (e.g., 500 Startups). Not a bad batting average.

We are now expanding the program beyond our four walls,

● We are raising a small fund with external investors.

● We will invite non-Nearsoftians entrepreneurs to participate.

As a client, you can participate as,

● Investor in the fund. ● Advisor to the founders (and the fund) ● Partner to our funded companies.

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Thank You!

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