It’s 2012. I am on the bus to Lauwersoog, to board the boat to the island of Schiermonnikoog. Voys has grown to 15 people. According to management books, the next phase requires "building a management layer". We have experimented with team leads, and it does not suit us at all. It detracts from the equal way of working together that we have come to love so much.
On my lap is a tablet and on that tablet is the "HANDBOOK FOR NEW EMPLOYEES" by the game studio Valve. At "Welcome to Flatland" I start typing. The words just flow out of my fingers. 1,5h later, before even getting off the boat, I’ve finished the first draft of the Voys handbook for new colleagues.
No hierarchy, no managers, no job descriptions. Simply working together as equals. That’s what brought us where we are now. That’s what we’ll keep doing!
It’s 2022 now, and we’ve learned so so much on how you can work as equals. Something we share and explain in version 6 of our Handbook.
It really contains everything because the internal and the external version of this handbook are one and the same. I hope you enjoy the read.
And for all my colleagues who joined this living experiment, I can not thank you enough. This handbook is dedicated to you all.
With love 💗
Mark