# Cultural Idiosyncrasies

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2024-04-03
- Length: 1h 27m
- Episode: 9
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/d9523a5e

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, and Steve Klabnik of Oxide Computer Company discuss the company's unique cultural idiosyncrasies, including Demo Fridays, recorded debugging sessions, and a no-meet Wednesday policy. They explain how these practices, born from remote work and pandemic constraints, foster transparency, psychological safety, and effective collaboration without formal performance reviews. The conversation highlights specific operational choices like RFDs (Requests for Discussion) and the decision to avoid engineering metrics, arguing that trust and positive feedback are more effective than quantitative measures.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=0) Introduction: Podcast recording mishap and bug debugging
- [5:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=338) Demo Fridays: Unstructured demos and debugging culture
- [15:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=901) JuJutsu demos and work-adjacent projects
- [23:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=1386) Water cooler meetings and no-meet Wednesdays
- [32:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=1965) Recording meetings and debugging sessions
- [43:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=2599) No formal performance reviews and positive feedback
- [54:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=3249) Chat tools, email, and DORA metrics
- [1:12:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=4328) RFDs (Requests for Discussion) and open source
- [1:19:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies#t=4770) Podcast as cultural artifact and benefits

## Topics

- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Bryan Cantrill (other)
- Adam Leventhal (other)
- Steve Klabnik (other)
- Matt Keeter (other)
- Cliff Biffle (other)
- Arien (other)
- Sean Klein (other)
- Jeff Rothschild (other)
- DORA (other)
- RFD (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [S2E46 How To Build A Workplace People Love |  Rich Sheridan](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-10-29-s2e46-how-to-build-a-workplace-people-love-rich-sheridan) (Being an Engineer)
- [Greatest Hits: Top 3 Leadership Lessons from Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-05-11-greatest-hits-top-3-leadership-lessons-from-manufacturing-happy-hour) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [386: Not Managing Robots](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-09-02-386-not-managing-robots) (Embedded.fm)
- [161: Do Your Values Align with Your Company's Culture? An interview with Jim Mayer, Host of the Manufacturing Culture Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2023-11-14-161-do-your-values-align-with-your-companys-culture-an-interview-with-jim-mayer) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [Creating an Award-winning Culture w/ Jon Franko](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2020-12-08-creating-an-award-winning-culture-w-jon-franko) (The Manufacturing Executive)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-04-03-cultural-idiosyncrasies. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.