A lot of our philosophy about doing things can be distilled into various principles.
- Work Principles
- Monster Math Brand Principles
- Pre-K Brand Principles
- Monster Math Design Principles
- Pre-K Design principles
- Hiring principles
Total freedom, generally leads to anarchy. Putting in a lot of rules however, to curb this, can restrict creative freedom, put unnecessary constraints on productivity, and in general, make work a miserable thing to do.
Principles provide the balance - they highlight what is important to us, and within the constraints of these principles, you have a lot of freedom on how to do work, where and when to do it from, and how best to contribute to our mission.
When you see something happening that either doesn't make sense, or you don't agree with, it should be easy to figure out why it's happening, and to figure out how to address it.
Is it happening because we are not following the principles we have set out? Fantastic. Just point out which principle we are not adhering to - and let's act on correcting the things that don't adhere to it. If it needs escalation, so be it - however there's no debate required on whether it needs correction or not.
Is it happening because our principles don't agree with you, or there is a problem that you spot in one of them? That's something that needs more deliberation - you might want to speak to Roopesh or Deep about it. Do the principles require an upgrade? Will the suggested change lead to a happier and more productive workplace, or lead to better products? Will we be giving up something in exchange? The discussion then needs to happen at this level, and might involve more debate and discussion within the team.
It could also be that the principles are being interpreted differently - in this case, the problem would be with the principle(s) that lends itself to different interpretations, and the action would be to fix that.
In either case, it's better to be clear at what level the difference lies. This should lead to lesser frustration, and more fixing issues as we see them, hopefully at the right level.