No Rules Rules
by Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer · first published 2020
29% recommend71% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Netflix's account of its culture of freedom and responsibility, with concrete practices like quarterly RFCs and candid feedback; useful for founders, managers and anyone shaping how a company operates.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A culture built on trust and clear responsibility, showing that when people are treated respectfully y and given autonomy, both they and their organization can do their best.
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Mentions per year
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Check out "No Rules Rules" by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer. If you can't leave (constructive) feedback/criticism to your CEO, you're working at a sick company.
on “Tobias Lutke still writes code for Shopify” ↗Don't mind me then. I think early Netflix' management philosophy -- as far as I know about it from the outside -- was exemplary. I strongly recommend No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention.
on “How a startup loses its spark” ↗…students and employees, would be more inclined to do their assignments if those assigning the work had read, understood, and then implemented, some of the ideas proposed in Drive by Daniel H. Pink, and No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer. :-)
on “Ask HN: What are some good strategies to get students to attempt assignments?” ↗…Marquet) (this is THE book on delegation) - Principles (Ray Dalio) COO/Succession Planning - Riding Shotgun (Nathan Bennett and Stephen A. Miles) People Performance/HR/Culture - Powerful (Patty McCord) - No Rules Rules (Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer) - Netflix culture deck - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni) - Work Rules! (Laszlo Bock) - It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work (DHH and Jason Fried) - The…
on “Ask HN: What books helped you in your entrepreneurship journey?” ↗We started doing quarterly RFC at Newscatcher, and it was a big game-changer. We're entirely remote. I got this idea from Netflix's founder's book "No Rules Rules" (highly recommend it) Overall, I think the main idea is: context is what matters, and RFC helps you get your (mine, I'm the founder) vision into people's heads a bit more. Therefore, people can be more…
on “Internal RFCs saved us months of wasted work” ↗The No Rules Rules book by him and an actual author is really good.
on “Netflix's New Chapter” ↗Reed Hastings, “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention,” released Sept. 8.
on “Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries” ↗This is exactly how the opening reads to the book No Rules Rules. Erin Meyer, a business professor, has that exact analysis of what "should" happen in an environment like one Netflix describes. But she interviewed dozens of Netflix employees for the book and found…
on “Netflix lays off about 150 employees” ↗I think the book Blitzscaling is by Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn. Reed Hastings wrote No Rules Rules https://www.norulesrules.com/
on “Netflix's New Chapter” ↗Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer talk about this right at the start of No Rules Rules. Netflix had to lay off a big chunk of of their staff because of a funding crunch early in their history. Despite the negative emotional toll that took on everyone, productivity actually improved. The…
on “You don't want to hire "the best engineers"” ↗…never been leaked. When it does one day leak (I imagine it will), we won’t overreact. We’ll just deal with that one case and continue with transparency. The CEO of Netflix says this in Ch 5 of his book No Rules Rules. The leak is a predictable result and will happen again. He believes the tradeoff in openness is worth it. If this $3 million is the only incident, maybe he is right.
on “SEC charges Netflix insider trading ring” ↗…Should one expect LESS? The global culture just doesn't mesh and its messy to provide exception policy in platforms across borders. This isn't a political bait / trick either. I just finished reading NO RULES RULES and listening to the French and English markets and how they deliver context and feedback, it's just one of those things you have to fight to overcome. I wish it was better, but with half the world right…
on “Stop Silencing Critics from MiddleEast and NorthAfrica” ↗A lot has been written about the position of rules in a company. For instance we have the popular book "No Rules Rules", and also "Ask your Developer" which talks about autonomy and rules almost as if they cannot conflict. I do think that some rules are needed: For instance even if you allow everyone in your company…
on “Ask HN: How to balance the “No rules rules” mindset” ↗…just spent 17 billion on new content, far more than any other streaming provider (and have the subscribers to support it). Specifically in India, with Indian creators, and it worked. It's in their book "No Rules Rules".
on “Netflix Should Sell Ads” ↗…book a week, every week, for the rest of your life. :) Just start with the ones in the article and Amazon/Kindle will get good at recommending books. Here's some books recently read on my Kindle: - No Rules Rules - Never Split The Difference - The Manager's Path - The Almanack of Naval Ravikant - Ultralearning - The Hard Thing About Hard Things - What You Do is Who You Are - User Story Mapping…
on “What is expected of a engineering manager?” ↗