The Year Without Pants
by Scott Berkun · first published 2013
8mentions
3recommended by
8HN commenters
2014–2022first – last mentioned
38% recommend63% neutral
A behind-the-scenes look at the firm behind WordPress.com and the unique work culture that contributes to its phenomenal success. 50 million websites, or twenty percent of the entire web, use WordPress software. The force behind WordPress.com is a convention-defying company called Automattic, Inc., whose 120 employees work from anywhere in the world they wish, barely use email, and launch improvements to their products dozens of times a day. With a fraction of the resources of Google, Amazon, or Facebook, they have a similar impact on the future of the Internet. How is this possible? What's
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Well done! Congratulations. Funny enough, I'm nearing the end of Scott Berkun's "The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work"[1]. It is a great read. Highly recommended for a behind-the-scene view of WordPress and their company culture. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118660633?ie=UTF8&camp=178...
on “Automattic Raises $160 Million, Valued at $1.16 Billion” ↗You should read: The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work Its a real treat.
on “Ask HN: Good Remote Work Literature?” ↗there are a few hundred people at Wordpress.com and Automattic that would beg to differ. Give a read to "Year Without Pants," it's very interesting and might help your team make the transition.
on “Soti – A $1B firm built in a basement” ↗Isn't this how Auttomatic (wordpress.com) and 37signals already operate? You could learn from their success http://smile.amazon.com/The-Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com... http://smile.amazon.com/Remote-Office-Required-Jason-Fried/d...
on “Ask HN: Been toying with a model for running a company. Critique me please” ↗The Year Without Pants - Wordpress.com and the future of work - Scott Berkun https://www.amazon.com/Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com-Futu...
on “Ask HN: What are you reading this weekend?” ↗In the book "A year without pants" by Scott Berkun where he spends a year with Wordpress and their then somewhat unique remote model, he emphasizes that it's still important for many to meet, it's just not necessary every day. I've worked…
on “Remote startups will win the war for top talent” ↗…Mullenweg for a year at WordPress.com to write a book about all of these questions. It documents all the tools I used and what life was like as a remote manager of a development team. http://www.amazon.com/Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com-Futur... You can read a free chapter about culture from the book here: http://scottberkun.com/2014/why-culture-always-wins-an-excer...
on “How Paul Graham Is Wrong” ↗…the Gates era, wrote several books on innovation and project management, went back to work as a fully remote Engineering Manager at Automattic (Wordpress) then wrote a book about remote work called A Year Without Pants. So his perspective is very tech-oriented.
on “Why Bad CEOs Fear Remote Work” ↗