Don't pull a Basecamp

Building Astropad

If you've been following the tech news, you've probably heard about the changes at Basecamp and the massive employee exodus that followed. So on this episode, Matt and Savannah dive into what happened at Basecamp and the lessons we can learn from it.

We talk through Basecamp banning politics at work and how that's only part of the story. We discuss the biggest mistake they made, not respecting their employees, and the major screw-up they made in their announcement. We share why we think it's impossible to ban politics from the workplace and what we'd do instead.

Finally, we also wrestle with how we've looked up to Basecamp and our view of them now.

Update: Since recording this episode, we've learned that 1/3 of the company has resigned in the wake of these changes.

On this episode, you'll learn:

• What went down at Basecamp
• Why we think the founders of Basecamp made a huge mistake
• Why you need a strong team that's willing to stand up to the founders
• Why removing politics completely from the workspace isn't realistic
• And an alternate take on how we would have handled it

Other resources

• Matt Ronge on Twitter
• Savannah Reising on Twitter
• Basecamp's changes announcement
• The Verge reporting on what happened at Basecamp
• The Verge reporting on the Basecamp all hands that caused 1/3 to quit
• Techcrunch on an employee exodus
• Tweet: 1/3 of employees have since resigned