Blog: 25 Years of Menlo

Upcoming Event: Lean Solutions Summit

This fall, Rich will be a keynote speaker at the Lean Solutions Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan happening September 15th-17th!

This year’s theme, Better Together: People + Innovation, is all about how empowered people and strong systems create meaningful, lasting progress.

Rich's talk, Winning with Humanity: The Joyful Culture Imperative, will dive into a topic he's been pursuing for the last 25 years: what happens when organizations stop treating people as a variable to manage and start treating them as the point of the whole thing?

We'd love to see you there! You can use this link to learn more and register, and use code Rich100 for $100 off registration. 

Whats up with all the Viking Helmets?
An accidental pairing

One question people often ask when they visit our office is "what’s up with all the viking helmets?" You’ll see plastic viking helmets throughout our office, on our marketing materials, and being passed around as the speaking token at our daily standup. They’re hard to miss. 

The connection between the viking helmet and Menlo actually came about by accident. During the early days of Menlo, our speaking token during standup often changed. The team had silly hat days (pictured above), and those hats were put into the rotation of standup speaking tokens (including the viking helmet). Eventually, the viking helmet became the standard as it was perfect for a pair to hold on to each horn while presenting.

Later, Inc. Magazine came to Menlo to write a story on the way we interview and how we work in pairs. They also took many pictures. However, the cover photo they chose was a close up of one of our viking helmets. They described it as “a visible manifestation of a company’s culture, an object the workforce recognizes as an expression of what it believes about itself.” 

Now, before the article was written, we didn't think much about the viking helmet. However, it has become a staple of Menlo, and it really is a good representation of our culture with a fun origin story!
 

See the article Inc. Magazine wrote about Menlo here! 

See the viking helmet featured here!

Come Visit Us!
Play the Ann Arbor District Library Summer Game

For all 25 years of Menlo we have been located in Downtown Ann Arbor, and we really appreciate the amazing community that lives here. Whether it's opening our doors for our free public tours, participating in A2Tech 360, or working with students from the University of Michigan, we love to engage with our local community as much as possible. 

This summer we're adding a simple and fun engagement activity by playing the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) Summer Game! Every summer, the AADL runs the Summer Game, where players “find codes, solve puzzles, attend events, and explore Ann Arbor” to earn points which can be redeemed for prizes such as t-shirts or pins. Some ways of earning points include reading books, attending events, and exploring the library, but the most common place to find points are on lawn signs scattered all throughout town. Players can register a code and put it on a library provided lawn sign, displaying it for others to discover and submit. Players get 100 points per lawn sign, so exploring around Ann Arbor pays off! 

This year, we decided to participate by displaying a code in a window of our office on the corner of Liberty and Division. If you’re local to the area, come visit us and see if you can find our code! You can join the game here. 

How are you engaging with your community this summer?
Email us!

Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better 

Author: David Epstein

Recommended by: Andrew Muyanja, Principal High-Tech Anthropologist®

I was drawn to this book for two reasons: 

First, I enjoyed David's previous book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.

Second, I was intrigued by the title. I was curious just how constraints like time and budget can lead to innovation. David delivered once again. 

He uses practical, relatable stories to share how constraints lead to innovation and success in business, society, and our personal lives. He makes the case that having an abundance of time, budget/capital, and freedom is more of a disadvantage than we think. 

I also learned a new term that has stuck with me: satisficing.

Coined by Nobel Laurete Herbert Simon, satisficing refers to focusing on what is sufficient instead maximizing, which is striving to make the absolute best choice every time. Maximizing can often lead to decision fatigue, anxiety, and analysis paralysis.  

Coincidentally, last week in James Clear's June 25 newsletter, he shared how imposing an artificial constraint helped him invent his 3-2-1 newsletter format that has become very successful. 

I hope you enjoy the book. 

Grab a copy here!

This month we're highlighting an experiment that was sent to us by our friend John Bissa. John and his wife Jessica ran the experiment of creating a Work Authorization Board (WAB) for their son, James, which ended up being a success! 

We are often asked about examples of the WAB being used for business or activities outside of software development, and this is a great example of how you can do so:

I thought you’d get a kick out of this: our youngest, James, is a great kid (21 years old) but has struggled with organization over the years.
 
After touring Menlo, Jessica and I speculated that an adaptation of the Menlo index card system might be a good fit to help him get organized. We got a bulletin board, a pack of index cards, a sharpie, and a bunch of push pins.
 
Initially, he resisted. But now, after a couple weeks, he has the zeal of the converted. He updates the cards and boards daily and literally tackles the day earlier and to greater effect than at any time we can remember.
 
And for that, we are grateful.
 

Have an experiment you'd like featured in the Menlo Bits?
Email us!