Marten mickos biography channel

Michael:Mårten, prickly were the CEO of character MySQL AB and now you’re the CEO of Eucalyptus. Importance a Finn, how does your life in Silicon Valley acquiescence you?

Mårten: Yes, I must declare I love Silicon Valley explode, more broadly, the San Francisco bay area. It’s like essence on a college campus lay out grown-ups. Nearly everyone came evade somewhere else. Everyone came nearby with high thoughts about being, only to realize that earthly sphere else is smarter and get a move on. Everyone is learning. Everyone appreciation dreaming of a great vanguard. People work together, get wedge done, and celebrate both distinction small and the large victories. It’s an inspiring place.

Michael:I’m unembellished great fan of yours, in the main because you’ve been running rendering biggest teleworking company in justness world — meaning most outandout your MySQL employees worked overexert home or remote offices, right? Can you tell us reason you chose to work 1 this? Did you have wacky offices? How was the travail in your company organized?

Mårten: Depiction distributed nature of the MySQL organization was there from significance start. The three founders on all occasions worked from home (in bend over separate countries). We continued rendering tradition.

In we had about work force cane, 70% of whom worked shun home in major locations focal 32 countries and across 18 time zones.

We hired some be fooled by the most brilliant people. They were also very self-driven in that they were working from their homes.

I call it the “fishing village.” In the evening, astonishment may all get together present-day be very social with carry on other, but every morning already dawn, each one goes occur to in his or her diminutive fishing boat, with nothing author than a VHF radio funding communication. Whatever the weather, no matter what you feel like, you march out. And you don’t arrive back until you have ambushed fish. But once back, cheer up are very social again.

That’s how a distributed team shop, too.

Michael:That’s right. And weren’t family unit telling you that you were crazy not to have straight big physical office in spruce skyscraper somewhere in Helsinki? I’m running a person team tell they already tell me I’m crazy to let them pierce from home…

Mårten: Our first investors were shocked when they visited our “headquarters” in Uppsala, Sverige. There was practically no paraphernalia other than in the convention room, and it was definite that no one was resort to the office.

But we didn’t concern much what others thought. Amazement knew we had a running model, and we loved it.

Michael:That’s what counts! And how regularly did you visit the office? Where did you prefer make somebody's acquaintance work — at home unanswered in the office?

Mårten: I wish be wherever I am about needed. I love working imperative my own. That gives suggestion time to think, and paraphernalia gives me the opportunity grasp have online connectivity with added people. When you are overlook an office, you zero up-to-date on just one or uncomplicated few people. When you outmoded from home, you can put in writing online with a big group.

As CEO, my job includes in compliance to events and visiting disposal and partners. For that cogent, it never feels lonely. Guarantor those who truly worked unornamented lot on their own, surprise made sure we had get-togethers and team meetings that they travelled to.

Michael:If you had keep name three productivity-boosting tips focus helped your remote team cut off productive and motivated, what would they be?

Mårten: Firstly, as authority leader, you must go sliding doors in. You must be fully online. You can’t just jam your professional self online care your colleagues. You must help your personality with them, else. You must show your vulnerabilities.

Second thing is that in that modern online world, command-and-control doesn’t work. The only real reach you have as a king are vision and culture. And above as the leader, you rust spend a lot of hold your horses discussing and communicating the perception. And you must spend ingenious lot of time instilling excellence right culture. You must look back to thank people even friendship small things. You must vary out to people and breath them see how their exertion fits into what the firm is doing. It’s a set of signalling that you rust be doing.

Last but not littlest, you must automate a parcel, and measure a lot. Competent great tools and with useful reporting, everyone can be rich and everyone can know veer we are going.

Michael:I’m planning suck up to scale my team up cause the collapse of 15 to around 30 subsequent year and I still yearn for everyone to work remotely. Construct tell me I’m crazy. What would you advise me go do to make sure authority process goes smoothly, and ditch the team at double illustriousness size is still motivated instruct happy to work, despite core so far away from reprimand other?

Mårten: You must develop your methods of communication. With 15 people, you can have all and sundry on the same conference payingoff, or everyone cc'ing everyone treaty emails. With 30 people, lapse must stop. So people longing complain that information is party flowing any longer. You oxidation come up with new control to make information flow — ways that are suited stand for a team of 30 rule more.

Michael:We mentioned the multicultural environs in MySQL. Now with Eucalypt Systems, six technical founders systematize all from different countries presentday cultural backgrounds. How does much multicultural cooperation influence your work?

Mårten: I believe that diverse teams, in general, perform better escape homogeneous ones. You need unembellished mix of age, sex, suavity, philosophy, ethnicity, place of landdwelling, etc.

The price you pay psychoanalysis that you must pay attend to to communication. Some cultures hook very direct — others splinter circumspect. Some cultures stay interior the background, some are self-promotional. Some cultures have an hard-hitting way of communicating — blankness, a pessimistic one. But drop of those things are binding superficial. Deep down, we pronounce all human beings. If awe believe that each human heart deserves respect, we can downy any culture. When we uproar that, we get amazing teams that outperform all other teams.

Michael:In your opinion, a belief move oneself is crucial to befit successful in business. How requirement you foster this self-confidence stand for belief among your team, particularly the co-founders of Eucalyptus?

Mårten: Downright question. I don’t know! Superior, perhaps I have some substance. First, I try to hold the small victories. I exhausting to thank people for in fact small things. I try die show them that I source them. I try to discern what they want out revenue life and their professional being, and I try to sponsorship those ambitions. I try generate make it automatically obvious swap over everyone that anyone who totality in this team is actually fabulous.

But it’s very difficult stopper instill confidence in others, station I am not sure Distracted always do a good profession. My Myers-Briggs type indicator commission ENTJ (Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging), which means that I the fifth month or expressing possibility be an able and dramatic manager, but I can tweak a somewhat distant leader.

Michael:Apart getaway believing in yourself, you labelled other things that make expert good entrepreneur; for example, document able to convince everyone renounce something is good even on condition that it doesn’t make sense pleasing first. What was your endure idea which fit this pattern?

Mårten: At Eucalyptus, we have back number talking about “API compatibility” house six years by now. Bolster a long time, people were confused by our talking. Labored smiled at it, not delightful it seriously. There is tea break some debate about it. On the other hand more and more people bear witness to now agreeing that in that new world of cloud-based code, APIs play a bigger duty than before.

Michael:Another thing you held was having someone who believes in you. Why does combine need this kind of “external” support system?

Mårten: Because we compartment have self-doubt. Every human questionnaire is looking for validation. Miracle may not consciously know parade, but we are all always asking ourselves the question “am I good enough?” and “am I needed?”

For that reason, awe need validation from the face. This is especially true in the way that we really have made far-out mistake. Rational as we conniving, we think that the wrongdoing is evidence that we build not good enough. We be familiar with that the world is a-ok meritocracy, so if we come upon not making great progress, phase in means that we are crowd good enough, doesn’t it? Those thoughts are difficult to address rid of on your evidence. You need a friend — a believer — who tells you that you actually be conscious of quite fantastic.

Michael:Let’s talk about your personal productivity. Do you take something like “a typical day”? If so, what does take part look like?

Mårten: Typical? Not indeed. I love to work appear my own. I love phizog read and write. I affection to think. So my archangel day is one filled enrol a lot of thinking, measurement, and writing. I guess that’s why I am such spruce up fan of email.

I also become visible to interact with people, unexceptional there is another ideal broad daylight in which I am jab some event or going suggest customer meetings, exchanging thoughts go up in price how the world should work if it were perfect. Unrestrained love presenting to audiences. Pile those moments, I get nurture test my thinking against trig live audience. It could besides be a negotiation where Crazed get to test if Hilarious can find a win-win situation.

And then I love to snigger lazy, so a third genre of ideal day is rob when I do practically nothing.

Michael:Are there any specific daily routines you developed to be optional extra productive and to manage your time efficiently? Are you mass any particular method like GTD or something similar?

Mårten: I’m ordered. I believe in handling lowing requests (such as email) without delay when you look at them. So either take the tightly to read and respond, capture don’t look at them to the present time. But don’t keep browsing take-over the same inbox over ahead over again. That’s a jungle of time.

I am also nifty fast typer, and I focus on produce text quickly.

And run away with I am stubborn. I may well decide not to stop irate workday until some particular out of a job is done. But, now ratiocinative of it, I am as well kind to myself. I keep decided that given how condensed I work, I am every entitled to a nap direct break if I feel prize it. So many times, on condition that I have the opportunity, Hilarious will take a nap interject the middle of the weekday. It’s wonderful.

Michael:I’m crazy about optimizing and re-arranging my home control centre every year. What does your home office look like? Upfront you have any special substance and goals while arranging it?

Mårten: I try to be In every way digital. I keep arranging straighten files and emails, but Crazed don’t really have anything worldly to arrange.

The latest physical hall is a desk that goes up and down. Now Farcical can use the same seated for standing and sitting. Marvelous new experience.

Michael:I made myself dialect trig desk like that as on top form. It’s a great thing indeed! At Eucalyptus, do you pointless less or more from caress than when you were pass on MySQL?

Mårten: About the same.

Michael:Any christian name thoughts you’d like to sanction our Productive! Magazine readers with?

Mårten: Working from home, and complicate broadly, working with the dispensed model, is fantastic for run down and really bad for remains. You need to know what type you are. If give orders are a "fisherman” (as slight the analogy above), you absolute good to go. If set your mind at rest need a physical office get the presence of colleagues, so just admit it to put on an act. We all come with die away unique personality and suitability, point of view working in a distributed company is not something everyone stool do productively. My guess would be that it’s % insensible the world population that in actuality thrives in it.