Builders and Farmers

The author, who was working at Spotify pre-IPO, mentioned that after the IPO the "builders" will leave the company and the "farmers" will come it. Builders value flexibility, creativity and agility - attributes that are key to creating a company out of nothing. On the other hand, farmers are obsessed with process, predictability and frameworks.

Builders prefer to focus on fewer, bigger problems. Farmers focus on solving more, smaller problems.

As I apply this distinction at OutSystems, I see several people that were farmers - the older product that the company has been selling for 20 years requires a ton of predictability and frameworks - that now see themselves in a "builder" mindset company again.

This factor partially explains why we're having more attrition than usual, as we're launching a complete new product that requires creativity and agility, which makes many people uncomfortable.

I joined the company to build.

Via: Tarzan Economics book