Introducing BossTard™

This post from startup founder Jason Calacanis is making the rounds of the internet. There's some general common sense in there, but most of the tips are about extracting the most possible butt-hours per week from each employee. Ther are a couple that drew special attention, though:

Don't buy a phone system. No one will use it. No one at Mahalo has a desk phone except the admin folks. Everyone else is on IRC, chat, and their cell phone. Everyone has a cell phone, folks would rather get calls on it, and 99% of communication is NOT on the phone. Savings? At least $500 a year per person... 50 people over three years? $75-100k

Hmm... does BossTard's company pay for the business calls employees are expected to use their cell phones for? Somehow I suspect not.

But the part that's attracted the most ire is #11: Fire people who are not workaholics. don't love their work... come on folks, this is startup life, it's not a game. don't work at a startup if you're not into it--go work at the post office or stabucks if you're not into it you want balance in your life. For realz.

The strikethroughs are BossTard's, representing edits made after the flames started rolling in. Despite his statements to the contrary, I think the original is truer to the rest of the post and probably represents what he really thinks. The rest of the post is all about keeping employees parked in front of their computers for as many hours as possible. Fine. A lot of startups work that way. I prefer to avoid them, but I recognize that they exist and some people thrive in them. But next to his 17 points about how to keep as little average distance between butts and chairs is his Twitter widget:



Now, I'm sure that's a reaction to the criticism he's attracted and an attempt to distance himself from his original position. Still, I wonder just how many of Mahalo.com's employees have been home with their families living a balanced life all evening. I suspect that a comparison of BossTard's average hours against his employees' would be rather telling.

Welcome to the Caseysphere, BossTard.

By the way, I've noticed that when I'm doing creative work I tend to get more done in the 15 minute walk to get coffee than in an hour at my desk.