The Highgroove blog. Sit pit-side with us to learn how we work. Sometimes technical, sometimes business-oriented, but always focused on simple solutions.
You are browsing posts about ROWE. Check out all posts on our blog.
by briang
Highgroove recently ran an experiment: Could we work remotely, and do it well? We thought so, and to test the theory, we rented two houses in Rosemary Beach for a week.
This was no vacation. Our office had been relocated to a new setting, but the same expectations for meeting results applied.
→ Read More
There are a lot of ways to measure an individual's work performance. When you think of a manager, perhaps you imagine her stopping by an employee's office to see if he's in his chair during work hours, or checking whether he's spending too much time on Facebook.
As a ROWE, or Results-Only Work Environment, we stick to asking the truly important question: Are we delivering the results that matter?
→ Read More
About a year ago, I convinced our Charles Brian Quinn to take a chance on me. While I had nearly 10 years of experience in developing, deploying and maintaining web applications, I had no Ruby experience, no Rails experience and not one piece of paper certifying me of having any knowledge about computers in general. Despite all these deficiencies, I had done my homework; I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Highgroove was the place where I needed to be working.
→ Read More
by charlie
You already know that Highgroove is a ROWE (Results Only Work Environment). I am just a week into my tenure at Highgroove, but I'm inclined to think that the 'R' could just as easily stand for "Respect," at least at Highgroove. That is, I think Highgroove could fairly be described as a Respect-Only Work Environment.
→ Read More
by drice
It is no secret that Highgroove is a bona fide Results-Only Work Environment. As a team, we focus on getting work done and ensuring client satisfaction. When, where, and how we work is irrelevant, because what we care about is the answer to one question: Is the client happy today?
I'll admit that working in a ROWE isn't always the cakewalk it sounds like. We still live in the real world, where time passes and deadlines creep up. So how do you keep the clock under control, as opposed to being controlled by the clock?
→ Read More
by jim
Picture it: A programmer in the eleventh hour of his months-long development cycle, desperately trying to complete his feature list. His palms sweaty, he slugs down another cup of coffee, trying not to think about the client meeting toward which he and his team inexorably march.
Software testing is out the window at this point. Sleep is a forgotten concept.
→ Read More
One of the great things about Highgroove is our commitment to balancing work and free time. However, when I decided to embark on a month-long European adventure, I was determined to give the international working vacation a shot. I thought that I had prepared myself for the challenge of working abroad, but what ended up happening surprised me. Read on to discover three lessons I learned from my working vacation in Barcelona.
→ Read More
by brian
Highgroovers keep up with new trends by attending at least one conference per year. Besides bringing us up to date on what's shiny, they help us network, learn about the bleeding edge of our field from academics, and gain new perspectives on what we do. But conferences aren't necessarily vacations, and juggling a conference and a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) can be tricky. Read on to see how we handle conferences in a ROWE while keeping our clients happy.
→ Read More
by tomer
When I started as Highgroove's first intern, I wasn't entirely sure how I would be introduced into the company. On the first day, I learned that I would be collaborating with each Highgroover for pair programming, which made it very easy to get integrated and meet everyone.
Read on to learn more about how pair programming helps developers start their time at Highgroove right.
→ Read More
by briang
My first week at Highgroove Studios has flown by faster that I thought possible. It was a flurry of activity that varied from learning about the Highgroove way of developing software, to reading Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It in order to better understand the aspects of a ROWE, to pairing with all of the other developers in order to learn a little bit about their personal work flows. This gave me a brief introduction to the various projects all of the Highgroovers are working on, as well as the various developer tools that they use to be more productive. I now feel like a real part of the team, and I am excited to get started on a project myself.
Read on for more insight into my first week.
→ Read More
by chris
As you're probably very well aware at this point, Highgroove is a Results Only Work Environment which means that it doesn't matter when or how we get our work done, as long as we get it done. This means that working from the beach is okay! Awesome!
While working from the beach seems like a great idea, we've iterated a bit on working vacations and have some things you should read if you're considering combining a vacation with getting some work done. Read on for the details.
→ Read More
by gregg
I'm just a week into my first real job and I feel like the luckiest person in the world. Many people fresh out of graduate school still have to "pay their dues" at a company that values being in your cube by 8:00 am even if you were up until 1 last night getting another report finished. While graduate school is essentially a ROWE, there are still expectations to be in a chair from 9:00 - 5:30 (at least in my lab there were). While having the freedom to work when you want and how you want is amazing, it doesn't come without growing pains. After a couple of years of getting judged based on time in the lab, it's hard to remember that it's what I get done that matters and not when I do it. Read through to see how I managed to commit what would be a serious faux pas in any workplace other than a ROWE: I took a day off in my first week.
→ Read More
by chris
Read on for why you should be using a combination of Sublime Text 2 and Vim instead of Textmate…
At Highgroove, I've become a stronger developer, consultant, and mentor every day. This didn't happen on accident! On one hand, Highgroove's philosophy to provide the best tools possible in the software development industry saves me time because I spent less of it waiting for tests to run and more time analyzing hard problems. On the other hand, I have a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) where I can leave when my work is finished, take a mental break whenever I need to, and work when where and how I please.
Despite these things that set Highgroove apart from most employers, I have found the dark side to all of this productivity: What do I do with all of the free time I have now? When you don't have to stay at the office for 10 hours a day just to save face, impress your bosses, and hopefully not get passed up by someone else who is better at sucking up than you are, this becomes a real problem!!! In this blog post I'll address this problem and show some creative ways to help unwind after a long day (or night!) of programming.
→ Read More
Meetings. Quick chats with our customers, daily if possible, don't count as meetings. They keep everyone on the same page to make sure good progress is being made for them, to address any questions or concerns they may have, and possibly to plan the next steps to take in developing their app. By "meetings" we mean that word that brings dread to the heart of anyone who has ever looked at their schedule and seen only two hours of their daily schedule available for actual work, and in fifteen minute blocks no less.
At Highgroove we have a few tactics for avoiding just that. Firstly, we don't have many. Moreover, all meetings are optional, and you can come and go as you like. A quick glance at my calendar shows vastly more pairings, personal trainer sessions, hack nights, team dinners, and other informal team outings than it does meetings. We consider this a win. Like all companies we still need some variety of status updates, the kind of subject matter that would usually go into a weekly company or organization meeting. To address that need we "bring it in" for the weekly huddle emails.
→ Read More
Imagine you are a recent graduate eagerly awaiting the next chapter in your promising future. From a very early age you were always told that "the world is your oyster" from your parents, peers, and teachers -- a thought so established in your mind, that you are anxious for what lies ahead. Within weeks you are confidently striding through the doors of your first real job in the so-called "real world." Armed with the knowledge and work ethic instilled by the demanding four years previously spent at university, you feel almost unstoppable. You quickly make eye contact with your manager, and before you can greet him with your million-dollar smile, he informs you in his monotonous lack-of-coffee voice: "You’re late." Suddenly the feeling of inadequacy takes over and reality sets in -- you're five minutes late. The expectation of the future becomes grim and you’re convinced that work is anything but a dream... or is it?
→ Read More
by aubrey
Prior to working at Highgroove, I worked for a number of softare product companies. One of the best metrics I've found for measuring how great a company is to work for as a developer is the Joel Test, which is a list of 12 simple questions. I've worked at companies that have scored high and companies that have scored low, and please believe me when I can tell you that the issues on that list really do make a difference.
My only issue with the Joel Test is that it is really geared toward software product companies. While a lot of the ideals translate to a software consulting company, the specific questions don't always apply when you are working on a lot of projects for a number of clients. So, in an effort the help measure what makes great software consulting teams so great I present...
→ Read More
by jason
Companies often feel that they are getting the most out of their employees if everyone is working as hard as possible for as long as possible. However, this can be exhausting on the employees and can lead to diminishing returns. We feel that the better approach is to emphasize efficiency over effort, and our level of productivity speaks for itself.
→ Read More
by jon
In January of 2012, after spending the holidays 'funemployed' (OK, just on vacation) down in sunny Florida logging some EPIC miles, I very excitedly boarded the Highgroove ROWE-boat as our first Account Director.
The month of January left me dazed but not confused. Working in a ROWE environment means results are expected immediately (and that results are all that matter). I hit the ground running and quickly found that everyone here is equally vested each project's success. That is to say, pardon the pun: "the rising tide lifts all boats" here at Highgroove. By leveraging constant communication, the best tools, pair programming, code audits, and project retrospectives -- we truly are an agile shop.
Read on to find out how I learned about what we do best, what makes us different, and what that means to me as our Account Director.
→ Read More
by stafford
At Highgroove we are are always trying out new ways to improve our process and environment. One of my favorite experiments has been doing away with assigned seats. Our Results Only Work Environment allows each person to decide when and where they do their work. While it is true no one is required to come into the office, the reality is many people prefer to be in the office. It is not hard to see why. Every member of the team gets a massive monitor, a super comfy Aeron chair, and all the espresso and snacks anyone could ever need. Although most people come into the office regularly, each team member's hours can vary wildly. When we had assigned seats you could come in the office and be isolated just because your neighbors on a different schedule. Conversely, you could come in and be surrounded by a couple developers talking out a difficult problem when you really need to get something else done. In short, assigned seats just aren't very ROWE.
→ Read More
by will
Going in to my third week here at Highgroove, I already feel like my first couple weeks have been some of my best in any work environment, both in terms of my personal productivity and my happiness at work.
I'm still completing my undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech. As any student at Tech will be quick to tell you, the school is often very demanding of its students. This can often make a good balance between work and school difficult, and juggling the two over the past couple years of school has been challening.
Enter Highgroove, a ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment).
→ Read More
by chris
ROWE means getting results done and not worrying about when it happens or how long it takes. This is a great way to get things done, but the amount of time spent on tasks can be an extremely useful metric.
by jason
After a week of working at Highgroove I am impressed at our efforts to provide everything a developer needs to start creating the best software possible through the right hardware, tools, and support. For someone like myself, who had lots of programming experience but knew little about Ruby on Rails, this was invaluable in getting me into the Rails trenches and helping my client.
→ Read More
by aubrey
I'll be honest. My reaction to my first morning in the Highgroove office was one which I thought I would not be sharing. After talking to a couple other Highgroovers, however, I realized it was a pretty common reaction. To us, our first day felt a little bit like Christmas morning.
→ Read MoreJeff and Tim at The Pragmatic Bookshelf wrote a great blog post on "The Only Agile Tools You'll Ever Need" which reminded us that it's been a while since we talked about tools here.
At Highgroove, we love our tools. We blogged about 'Trusting Your Tools' almost a year ago, and then about some of the other tools we use later that month. We're still using Pivotal Tracker, Github, Skype, etc, but there's a lot that has changed.
As much as we'd like them to be, all tools are not necessarily awesome, and Jeff and Tim's criteria for picking which tools to use is spot on. We've tried out a lot of things, experimenting with new tools and 'failing fast' (something else we love to do so we don't waste time) when something doesn't work right. It's pretty easy to get used to using something that is inefficient, or to spend all your time tinkering with new tools and gadgets and not getting any actual work done, so it's important to consciously bias towards simplifying your toolset. Here's some examples of things that we tried and scrapped.
→ Read MoreAs the youngest Highgroover, I don’t have quite as much reference to contrast a ROWE with a 9-to-5 type work environment. But I could tell within my first week here that working without a timeclock allows us to have an incredible amount of flexibility.
A lot of writing about ROWE focuses on the way it handles time off: your weekend can be anytime, you can leave for a movie on a Thursday, etc. This seems to me like a silly way to sell the idea. A student who really wants to pass his classes bases his partying around his studying, not vice versa. So why schedule a work week around your weekend if you really want results? Because of this, when I started working for Highgroove I tried paying attention to how our work environment allowed us to get things done.
I recently had the pleasure of playing host to a friend/artist whose visit was largely inspired by the fact that I own a 3D printer. Thanks to ROWE I was able to work from home while my husband and friend spent countless hours Makerbotting. Needless to say I got inspired.
Every programmer has had this thought: “Just 15 more minutes and I’ll have that feature working!”. And 15 minutes come and go, and before you know it its been an hour and the feature still isn’t working ideally. In fact, you’ve skipped lunch and have accomplished far less than you had hoped?
Why did you sit there for so long only to give up and probably get a late lunch both hungry and frustrated? Short and simple answer: You didn’t hold yourself accountable for your time and you did not let yourself have a good break!
by stafford
I just finished up my first week at Highgroove. Highgroove is a bit different from agencies I have worked in the past. Most places
I have worked, developers would receive requirements for projects
from a project manager. At Highgroove, developers are the project
managers. We are in constant contact with our clients. At first this
seemed daunting, but so far it has been awesome! I find it very
helpful to have direct feedback and input from the client as we build
their software. The constant feedback helps catch small issues before
they become large problems, and reduces the chance of
miscommunication.
by andy
Like many software professionals, developers at Highgroove tend to code a lot outside of the work we do for our clients. In fact, Highgroove specifically allots each developer time to work on non-billable projects. Usually this time is used for some combination of sharpening our axes by reading technical material or watching screencasts, and working on open-source software or other internal projects.
Because Highgroove is a results-only work environment, making sure we are meeting or exceeding results is very important. Last night, a few of us hung around at the office and worked on an internal web application to help us track these results, holding us accountable and encouraging us not only achieve them day-to-day, but to do so longer term.
by vanstee
Working for a company that embraces ROWE is great. If you’ve been following our blog, you’ve probably read about how we can work on our own schedule or work from where ever we want as long as we meet results. But, there’s also a more subtle advantage. Since working from the office is no longer mandatory, there is an added incentive for Highgroove to make the office somewhere we actually want to work, which translates directly into some awesome perks as an employee.
by drice
I am coming up on my first month at Highgroove and I am loving it. Free espresso is a pretty quick way to get on my good side! In all seriousness though, I am 100% glad to be here and surrounded by expert Ruby and Ruby on Rails developers and open source contributors.
So the obvious question is “What is so great about Highgroove?” Its pretty easy: I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and its no big deal. I don’t have to frantically call CBQ if I’m running late because of the renowned Atlanta traffic. There is no late. I don’t have to ask to work remotely. There are no mandatory office hours. Its absolute freedom, which was something I didn’t really have at my other jobs.
by vanstee
What do new hires at a software development shop typically do on the first day? They probably read through documentation, checkout some code, and maybe make some commits on a project. At some of the more progressive companies, new employees might even get to push changes to a live production server. At Highgroove, in my first week, I learned that we follow the philosophy of “Bias Towards Action” and actually “Deploy Code on the First Day.” It’s simply the best way to bring people up to speed and make sure they are comfortable deploying and delivering working software.
by mike
I've now been working at Highgroove for just over a month. While most of this has been part time, as I was finishing up my Fall semester at Georgia Tech, I've experienced quite a few differences from my previous jobs.
→ Read More
by cbq
It’s no secret we’ve been growing. We outgrew our office space about a month ago, and started looking for a new spot.
Our approach to office space has always been iterative. About 2.5 years ago, I went to visit a friend of mine, Mike Landman, who owns a company called Ripple (that we did some work for) at his office. After our meeting, I asked if I could just sit at one of the empty desks to take a phone call and do some work. Highgroove was just me, Derek and Andre, working from our homes (and coffee shops).
by andy
Because Highgroove is growing, I am no longer the newest employee, though having been on the job only about two months now, I still feel pretty new.
I came to Highgroove after leaving a developer position at a large company. The decision to leave was not an easy one to make, but I decided I needed a change to fully realize my goals.
When I updated my résumé in preparation for a new job search, I listed several of these goals. I am happy to say even at this early stage, Highgroove is matching up well with them. I explain more after the break.
We recently submitted <a href= “http://gorowe.com/rowe-approved-form/”>an application to receive the official ROWE seal of approval. Not only did we receive approval, we also received a personal response from Jody Thompson praising us for our efforts in and pinpointing our weakness in our results only work environment.
Where we were failing our ROWE was in regards to our vacation policy. In a ROWE results must always be met regardless of vacation. This means that there is no need for a vacation policy. Employees can work when and from where they want to work. When an employee takes vacation the rest of the team should “mind the results” while the employee is away.
The Problem: Highgroove is a small shop and we do not work in large teams. Our developers are all responsible for a high volume of results. If a developer goes on vacation there is no way for the team to carry on their results. it is also unreasonable to require them to complete their normal results while on vacation.
The Solution: Start working in teams. Our developers often work solo on week long iterations. We are currently discussing the options for pairing teams on iterative development. This would double the size of the development team and provide a basis for team coverage in the absence of one team member. What is your ROWE vacation policy?
by emily
I came to Highgroove from a fairly large corporation and it seems like every time I turn around, I’m struck by the difference between my work now, and my work as it was before. So, I started trying to answer the question “what makes it so different?” I come in to the office every day, I sit down at my desk, I write code, and then I go home. But, because Highgroove is a ROWE I realized there’s something different about every one of those steps.
by chris
After several years on the Operations team at SugarCRM, I decided to change things up a bit. As of this past Monday, I am now a Software Developer at Highgroove. The step from managing system infrastructure to programming in Ruby on Rails is a big one, but so far it’s been a blast.
Around 10am Monday, I biked the 4 miles from home to the office to an Aeron chair, a shiny new MacBook Pro and widescreen monitor, some snacks, a copy of Work Sucks, a cigar, and an empty office! Highgroove is a Results Only Work Environment so some people were working from home and others were still asleep. Eventually (most of) the rest of the team biked/motorcycled/drove in and started getting things done.
Ruby on Rails (and Ruby!) is completely new to me, but I’ve been picking up things pretty quickly. By Tuesday I was billing hours to a customer on a project, and by Wednesday I’d make a significant performance improvement contribution to another project. Matt, Charles, and the rest of the Atlanta Highgroove team have been exceedingly helpful answering my questions and explaining all of the magic that Ruby on Rails does behind the scenes, and I can now see why people that use Ruby on Rails think so highly of it.
The breadth of projects here is pretty huge: from enhancements on pretty straightforward web applications, to architecting high-volume APIs in front of huge data sets. I’m particularly looking forward to starting a new test-driven-development project with Rails 3 that relies on Chef and Capistrano for deployment to the cloud, using Pivotal Tracker to communicate with a client over as many iterations as it takes to deliver the end result.
Around 5pm, the music gets turned up and things wind down as people trickle out to concerts, bike rides, date nights, and things other than waiting for a pager to go off in the middle of the night! It’s been a great first week and I’m looking forward to the months to come.
