Our values mater

E₃ Systems suffered a significant loss last week as the founders experienced a death in the family and took time off for the funeral.  If you have visited the company website, one of our company values is respect.  With the passing of one of our founder’s relatives, it only seemed fitting to take time off and pay our respects.  During this challenging time, I reflected on my values and the values of the company I founded.  This week on the blog, I want to discuss those reflections.

I founded this company three years ago out of frustration with my technology career.  I spent too much time in meetings and taking orders from people who could not use a mouse.  I concluded that in this fit of career darkness, I would create my own business and help others use technology to improve their business.  It was a crazy dream, but I was determined to see it through.  Since then, I spent countless hours writing software and meeting with potential clients.  I have affectionately referred to the company as my mistress.  We have released two major software projects in that time, and we are launching sales efforts to support those products.

Along with coding, I spent a great deal of time thinking about what kind of company I wanted to build.  I wanted a firm where people respected each other, the customers, and the communities they serve.  I wanted to be able to grow so that I could reward our stakeholders and employees.  I look forward to hiring my first employee, and the only way that is going to happen is by growing and improving sales.  When we hit that first million dollars in revenue we will let you know.

The other two values of E₃ systems are agility and development.  I strongly believe that to be successful a company needs to respond to customer demands.  This is why I have embraced the Agile manifesto and why agility is one of my corporate values.  If you do not like something we are doing give us two weeks and it will change.  This is one of the reasons why smaller firms seem to be having more success than larger ones in today’s environment.

Finally, I believe strongly in the personal development of my employees.  Unlike traditional businesses, a good technology company demands that its employees be more innovative and better at what they do. A technology worker needs to relearn their job every eighteen months. Each employee should learn how to be better at what they do and become more knowledgeable of the world around them.  Continuing education and training makes sense as the world becomes more complex.  People are not machine tools to be used up and then thrown away.  Only by investing in people and helping them develop will you be a successful postmodern business.

I strongly believe in these values: growth, agility, development, and respect.  I have placed them on my company website, and I have struggled to live them as I have launched my business.  This organization counts on two things: the quality of our product and the trust of our customers.  If we do not have those, then we deserve to fail.

We know that in order to earn your trust and provide quality, we have to have values consistent with that.   I know we do.  So, reflecting on this journey, I can say we are doing it the right way and look forward to future success.

Until next time