Clean BusinessSimon Coles

CEO and co-founder, Amphora Research Systems

simon.coles@amphora-research.com

This PresentationWill be on my web site on Monday

Provided under Creative Commons “Attribution Share Alike” http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

(“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”)

Clean in Business

• About me • My problem • My journey • What we do now • The Impact • Anecdotes

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About Me• Co-founder and CEO of Amphora Research Systems • I realised that building the company was more

interesting than running it • Now

• 50% time on Amphora • 50% time on helping other people do what I did

• Just started. Not sure what will happen • Better than taking up golf

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My Company• Niche software company focusing on Record

Keeping software for R&D Scientists • Privately held, bootstrapped (no external finance) • Over 12 years old, profitable, no debt • Customers all over the world, mostly in North

America and Europe • One of the few (the only?) surviving early vendors

in this space

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My job, as a CEO/Founder

• Codify the “special sauce” that led to the company’s founding, in way that others can do it

• Construct a company that can execute the special sauce sustainably and profitably

• Create a culture which creates more “sauce” • Build a life for myself, which includes an

environment I’m excited to work in

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The Results• This isn’t my normal style, but for completeness… • Revenue per employee well above industry norms • Cashflow stable for the foreseeable future • I don’t really have to do much except manage the

culture • Sick days almost non-existent - apparently a key

morale indicator • Most people who have left want to come back

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Clean in Business

• About me • My problem• My journey • What we do now • The Impact • Anecdotes

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My Problem• Too many entrepreneurs aren’t

• They just build themselves a job • Rather than a company • “Work on the business not in the Business” - “The E-

Myth” and others • So many people end up trapped

• Worse than being an employee • All your assets in a job • You die a little bit every time you walk in the door

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More Problems• My business is software

• We don’t have many “things” • It is all about people, how we work together, and how we interact

with the world • Success criteria

• Employee engagement • Collaboration • Productivity • Creativity • Sales • Passion

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http://ThePsychicCEO.com

“Apprenticeship Patterns” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye

“Software development is composed of two primary activities: learning and

communication.”

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Question to Ponder• There’s plenty of conventional wisdom about

optimising thing-based companies • (Lean, Six Sigma, accounting, ERP, etc.)

• I’ve had sustained almost aggressive criticism from business coaches for spending what I have on optimising my people-based business

• The business world is so screwed up! • There’s sustainable competitive advantage…

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Clean in Business

• About me • My problem • My journey• What we do now • The Impact • Anecdotes

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The Journey

• I was working at New Information Paradigms (NIP) • One of the team involved in Caitlin Walker's first

Clean in Business project • There are videos around of a very young me! • At the time I was running a division which became

Amphora

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I’m in Chapter 3… (I’m almost famous!)

• The NIP work is written up in Caitlin’s book

• In it, I developed a metaphor for our product

• Really helped us identify the adoption and architectural issues inherent in this new market

• Useful both internally and also for external discussions

• Still relevant to us

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From “Contempt to Curiosity” by Caitlin Walker

Many Years Later

• Many years later, I'm running Amphora • Needed to get other people to do what I did in the

sales process • I’d realised I’d been doing Clean all along • Clean for the Sales people

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Kept Going

• Clean was hugely useful in the sales process • Started to be used elsewhere • Then we got into Neuro Profiling/Diversity • Just because it was interesting • Turned out to be really interesting

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A Note on Part Timers• There’s a lot of talent out there that also has family responsibilities

• Advertise a job with flexibly school hours working and you get them queuing at the door

• Works well for us as we’re very international • It isn’t just about the hours

• Understand the stresses and strains, encourage discussion about family issues in the culture

• Watch for confidence issues, “Baby brain” for returnees • Ensure they aren’t disenfranchised (easy with today’s gadgets)

• Having a Clean Culture really helps resolve any issues caused by part time work

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Clean in Business

• About me • My problem • My journey • What we do now• The Impact • Anecdotes

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What we do now

• 4-legged stool of sustaining activities • All mutually reinforcing • Will focus on the 3 Clean-related ones

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4-Legged Stool

• Clean Language • Neurodiversity • Life Coaching (now Clean-based) • The Essence Foundation Course

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Essence Foundation• Not really part of the Clean world • 3-day weekend in London (and other cities) • Nice introduction to self improvement • Can be transformative for people • Very useful when everyone in the company has been through the

same process • Helps people become

• Comfortable in their own skin • Much more open • More aware and respectful of others’ internal world

• http://essence-foundation.com/

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Life Coaching• Been doing it for about 6 years now

• Before we re-introduced Clean • Helped us bring Clean-based initiatives in

• Available to everyone • Confidential, any subject • Hugely useful, but unquantifiable!

• Have recently switched to Clean coaching • With Marian Way • Seems to be more powerful than normal coaching • Using Clean in this context has benefits elsewhere

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Neuroprofiling• We started to get interested in how people’s brains

work • Turns out this is fascinating, and hugely important • Working with Caitlin and colleagues we

• Gave everyone an IQ test and produced a profile • Used that to explore how individuals can work at

their best • And how the rest of us can help

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Neuroprofiling• Turns out that everyone is different, especially

when you have different professions • Hugely helpful for everyone • Raises awareness when talking with external

parties as well • Significant impact in software design,

documentation etc. • Helps us be more productive, and more

harmonious

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Neuroprofiling

• It is very common to have conversations about our various strengths and weaknesses

• We can spot it in other’s too • Tellingly, there’s a real push to profile new starters

as quickly as possible (from both sides)

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Unexpected Stuff• When you are using your brain in the way that is most natural

you have a lot more fun • Asking someone to do something in their “Neuro sweet spot” is

like asking them to be paid to do their hobby • It’s no burden to swap activities between people • e.g.

• Some people love organising stuff, get real pleasure out of bringing order to chaos

• Some people really enjoy reading and summarising • Some people love finding the one number that’s out of whack

in a spreadsheet of financial detail

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Q: Risk of people being typecast

• When we Neuroprofiled people, was there a risk of them then being defined by their profile, and restricted in what roles/tasks they perform?

• Answer: Not really • Everyone is in the right jobs, they are all well qualified and

performing well • This is about understanding ourselves and each other better • The Neuroprofile doesn’t really tell you what someone’s real-world

capability is, more how they use their brain to get it • With this knowledge, we can easily help them be more effective and

happy with small little changes • If you want to know what someone is capable of… look at what they

do in the real world!

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Q: Example outcomes of Neuroprofiling

• Don’t give X big spreadsheets of lots of numbers • Can easily understand the concepts, it is the presentation which

makes it hard • Split into 3 less dense spreadsheets is much more digestible

• Don’t expect X to research and summarise large blocks of text. Y is much better at that (and enjoys it).

• X’s Verbal is so high he really can talk, think 3 steps ahead, and resolve the technical issue - at the same time. But don’t ask him to read notes while doing it.

• Y really needs to pre-plan things because they can’t think on their feet so well, but that means they are very insightful about strategy etc.

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Caution

• If you’re starting all this from scratch I’d do Neuroprofiling last

• It needs Clean as an exploration tool • It needs a Clean culture to ensure people are

treated with respect and curiosity

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Clean at Amphora

• What we mean by Clean • How we explicitly use Clean • Everyday examples

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What we mean by “Clean”• We do Systemic Modelling - we’re about groups and teams

and common endeavours • Sometimes Symbolic is relevant but we’re careful to

delineate • Even a little bit of Clean is good

• Just respectful communication • Sometimes we use structured tools

• "When you're working at your best..." • "For this to go just as you'd like, you'd be..."

• Infused into the culture

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Explicit use of Clean

• Anything where we need to be curious • General rule is anyone can ask anything about

anything as long as it is phrased as a Clean question

• This is a surprisingly powerful ground rule • Keeps us curious (rather than in contempt) • Excellent team working

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Clean Setup• “If this was to go just as you’d like…” • Before any activity which involves more than one

person • Sales meetings • Interviews • External meetings

• Really helps bring out a common understanding of expectations, roles, etc.

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Sales• Sorting out sales is the key to growth and profitability • We typically are in a complex sale (buying team needs to form) • Selling something the prospect hasn’t bought before (we’re solving a latent

problem) • Sales needs to guide prospects, rather than convince • Help them understand their problem and company

• “Soft” sales approach • We manage the business for the long term • If we do the right thing by prospects and our customers they’ll reward

us • This is a hard skill set and attitude to hire • But it is paying off now, huge amount of referral activity

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Clean in Sales

• I’ve always naturally used Clean in sales • Did Clean before I every really did sales • Didn’t know how to sell, so just talked to them

• Really very effective • BUT only if your business culture supports it

• Most sales cultures are manipulative

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Clean in Sales

• Train all the sales people in Clean • Will sprinkle it in to the sales conversation, emails,

etc. • We’ve also modelled me to understand what I do in

demos

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Recruitment• Recruitment is the hardest thing we do

• We’re not only trying to pick the right people • Also trying to set the foundation for success going

forward • Clean

• Is a tool during the interviews • Is something we want to make sure they are happy

with • We try and do everything in the Interview process that

might cause concern later

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Recruitment Process

• Recruitment Consultant - screen • First Interview - looking for attitude/values • Second Interview - looking to simulate skills • Onboarding

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Recruitment Consultant• We've finally found an excellent Recruitment

Consultant • They actually meet us, and the candidates • "I've met someone who would be really great for

you" • Generally this industry is a cesspit - Austin Clark

are awesome • We’ll interview anyone they recommend

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First Interview• 1 hour, with 2 of us • We are looking for reasons to have them back for a 2nd interview • And we’re also trying to put off people who won’t fit • This is about the person and their attitude towards life (not skills) • CV is sort of useful as a talking point ish • We’ve had complaints - this is a feature, not a bug • Clean Components

• Start out with • “Why?” • “If this interview would to go just as you’d like, it would be like what”

• Sprinkle Clean in as required - ~25% Clean Questions

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Second Interview• Looking to realistically test skills and attitudes • Half a day • Variety of exercises tailored to the job, and also the

candidate - what are we concerned about and need to check?

• Want to set the foundation for a successful job • Apparently our 2nd interviews are rather

unconventional

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Second Interview• Always done in the main office, and everyone has a

role (even if not visible) • We’ll ask them “When you’re working at your best”

if not asked before • We’ll give them a 5 minute introduction to Clean • They will then ask someone “Amphora is like

what?” • Plus some other job-specific exercises

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Q: Example of Clean Interactions

• Sales issue being discussed, a techie joins in the conversation with a clean question which leads to a new product resolving the sales issue • Techies are excellent debuggers! • Clean gives them a voice

• Manager makes an “opaque” decision which no one understands • Instead of allowing the confusion to continue, Clean Questions

deployed to challenge/clarify in a non-threatening way • Turns out manager was unconsciously using a variety of

additional considerations in the decision

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The Branding Project• We hired a lady with proper marketing experience • Realised we needed a rebrand • Got a proper grown up agency in • Did it the traditional way and got nowhere, results were

terrible

• Had Caitlin in for an emergency metaphor session • Got more done in 45 minutes than 1 day with the traditional

approach • I still re-watch that video to re-centre myself

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Clean in Business

• About me • My problem • My journey • What we do now • The Impact• Anecdotes

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The Impact

• Culture • Collaboration • Sales • Strategic competitive advantage • Scale limitations?

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Culture

• Huge amount of mutual respect • Very enquiring, thoughtful culture • People are open about personal issues which

might be affecting them, and understanding of others

• Customers like us, which in turn increases morale and makes my job as a manager easier

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Culture• Systemic Modelling prevents bitching

• I’m sure Clean experts can bitch Cleanly • We can’t :-)

• People will point out when norms have been violated, they’re quite attached to it

• Generally • If you’ve got the right people • If there’s some disagreement, that’s interesting • Hidden in the disagreement is a valuable insight

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Collaboration• Lots of cross-discipline collaboration • Even between roles where you wouldn’t expect it • We can make lots of tradeoffs

• Sales problem solved with a technical fix • Accounting issue resolved by a change in sales

practice • This happens all the time, very quickly • Lots and lots of discussions in the moment • Very few “meetings”

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Sales• Very problematic working with “Experienced” sales

people • But that’s OK because that skill set is declining in

effectiveness rapidly • Prospects and customers really like working with us • We get good customers - which makes supporting

them a pleasure - which makes running our support department fun

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Culture Beats Strategy

• Culture is the only long term competitive advantage • It isn’t the technology you have, it is how you take

that to the world • Our competitors can’t compete effectively because

they can’t copy our culture • Clean underpins our culture

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All in one Room

• We used to have remote staff • We don’t any more

• Don’t need them (thanks to The Internet) • We get huge amounts from everyone being in the

same place • We do encourage remote working for work/life

balance reasons

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Scale

• Having us all in one room won’t scale to large numbers

• But that’s OK because we don’t need to • Organisational design is for maximum 20 people • That’s all we needed to exceed our wildest dreams • So we just need to find the right 20 people, and

help them succeed

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Clean in Business

• About me • My problem • My journey • What we do now • The Impact • Anecdotes

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Interesting Stuff

• External Consultants • Families • Some can’t handle it

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External Consultants• Won't use Clean, even when pre-warned/required

• This has happened more than 4 times already

• As a result

• Annoys everyone

• Get the wrong outcomes very slowly

• Fear this is unsolvable, so I'm starting my own

• Problem is most consultants have a business model built on manipulation

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Last Week• Some tricky issues with an external consultant • Showed how hard it was to work with someone who

hasn’t been Clean trained • I intervened to ask the consultant some Clean

questions to break the dynamic • Consultant was expecting me to be in command

mode and was rather put off when I wasn’t • Interesting that’s the most tension we’ve had in the

office for years and years

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Families• Helped our family relationships

• e.g. your wife isn’t being obstinate, that’s how her brain works (and vice versa!)

• Helped us be better parents • More insight into how people learn • More openness in allowing children to explore

how their brains work • Clean questioning is excellent for talking with

Children

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Some Can’t Handle it

• Clean creates a transparent, collaborative, healthy culture

• The 3 other legs of the stool support that • Some people have ways of getting on in the world

which can’t work in a Clean culture • For some people the cultural gap between work

and home expectations causes friction

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Summary• Clean helped us clarify the product • Clean helped us sell the product • Clean helps us work together • Neurodiversity helps us understand each other • Neurodiversity helps us get the best from ourselves

and each other • Regular Coaching settles everyone and helps

resolve issues before they become issues

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Summary

• If you want a miserable workplace, avoid Clean • If you want a happy, empowered, joyful workplace -

give everyone the gift of Clean Questioning • If your company’s success is based on Knowledge

Worker productivity • You’ll have a lot more fun • You’ll probably make more money as well

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Take Home• I have tried lots of things to improve my business

• Ideas, consultants, advisors • Most have been a waste of time

• Clean has been by far the most impactful and cost effective of them all

• Plus, it has improved all our lives generally • More than happy to tell other people this

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