Blog: Why We Work In-Person

Try Before You Hire… and Before You Commit!
Creating a hiring process that works both ways

Joy as a Growth Strategy?
What laughter and energy have to do with business success

Inc. Magazine recently published an article by Moshe Engelberg about how joy can be a powerful driver in company growth. Menlo is famously known to be living proof of that, so much so that we’re mentioned in the article!

Companies will frequently use metrics like revenue to track growth and results, but this ignores other important factors. Engelberg argues that “instead of chasing performance directly, you build a culture of joy that people actually want to be a part of.” You should want your employees to be excited about coming to work. Once you achieve this, business success will follow.

At Menlo, you're constantly hearing chatter and laughter, above a hum of joy and productivity in the office. Even right now on a Thursday afternoon, the Menlo factory floor sounds like a busy coffee shop. Not only does this environment of joy make it a fun place to work at, Engelberg also argues that a workspace that embodies joy improves thinking, creativity, and resilience. 
 

Read the full article here!

The Design of Everyday Things

Author: Don Norman

Recommended by: Wade Westfall, Software Consultant

A few weeks ago I stepped into Barnes & Noble with my girlfriend. She is an avid reader and had a book she was looking for. I, on the other hand, had no plan. As a developer I will traverse the tech section for anything that piques my interest—a technology I'm working in, or maybe a book that would inspire an unforeseen hobby project. On this day I had no such luck, so I wandered off to find a comfy seat and engage in some mindless scrolling on Reddit. But as soon as I sat down, I noticed a little yellow book on the table next to me. The Design of Everyday Things, it read.

Menlo is big on books, and as it turns out, loves to recommend this one—we even send attendees home with it in our High-Tech Anthropology® workshop. But as a developer, I never had this book on my radar. However, as I flipped through the pages it became increasingly apparent that this little book held methodologies that were cornerstones to... well, everything at Menlo! 

Human-Centered Design, people as storytellers, constraints, discoverability, feedback. With each passing chapter I became enraptured by Norman's elegant and entertaining way of describing the processes I have been engaged in for the past 5 years.

Right now is a big time of change for Menlo. We have made it our mission this year to expand our team to a size we've never been at, and that comes with many challenges. But at the center of those challenges always remains one core question:

How do we keep our culture amidst all those changes?

Sometimes in order to move forward you have to understand the past. I don't know how this book was lost on me for so long, but going in blind has allowed me to see the building blocks of Menlo from a fresh perspective. Not only did the book inspire me to continue engaging in the Menlo processes, but it also reminded me of the reasons why they exist in the first place.

Whether you're a developer, project manager, designer, or anything in-between, I cannot express how excited I am to recommend this book to anyone reading this post, and to anyone I happen to be in the general proximity of for the next 5 years! The Design of Everyday Things goes beyond just designing applications (although it does a great job at explaining that too) and delves into teaching us how curiosity can be the cornerstone to an entire culture! 

Grab a copy here!

An important part of Menlo’s culture is giving and receiving feedback. Providing constructive feedback or advice in a way that’s well received—without dampening the working relationship—is genuinely difficult. Often the manner in which feedback is delivered plays a big role in how it’s internalized; so how better to improve at delivering feedback than to practice?

Practicing both sides of the exchange can help both parties learn what works and what doesn’t in the messaging, timing, and tone, as well as managing emotions that may stem from being on the receiving end of constructive feedback.

To promote these regular feedback loops, we started running an experiment in 2025 called "feedbackies", which was a set time for pair partners to exchange feedback for 15 minutes. We set an alarm on a Menlo phone hooked up to speakers that reminded everyone at 4:15pm every Wednesday that “feedbackies” had commenced. 

The experiment worked great for a while, until the phone started to experience problems and no longer reliably set off the alarm. Fast forward to today—we are actively running new experiments to get "feedbackies" back on track. The latest experiment has been to send out a company wide, recurring calendar invite on Google in hopes that it is a sufficient reminder to get our feedback in. This iteration only began in April 2026 so the jury’s still out on how effective this approach will be.

In the spirit of feedback, the team is encouraged to offer suggestions and ideas on what else to try or how to improve the current process. As with all experiments, "feedbackies" is iterative and ever changing. Come 2027, it will likely look very different again. Stay tuned!
 

Have you recently run an experiment? Email us!