Survival Guide

Pedro Gómez - February 2017

Whether or not, every company has a culture.
So, since there will be one anyway, we want it to be for impressive results as people and as a company.

We want this culture to inspire us, to make us fall in love, to guide us in the way we learn, behave, recognize ourselves, pursue those impressive results, and relate to each other. This document is an invitation for us to build Pragma Culture together.

Our purpose is to improve people’s lives by transforming companies. We are the pilots of our destiny and seek remarkable results. We are practical, responsible, and part of the solution.

We believe that processes should be flexible, prompt, and clean and that exceptions should not be modeled. We do not penalize everyone for the mistakes of a few.

We work with purpose. We understand the context, the cathedral we are building, and why we are doing it.

We prefer to fail rather than never try. No one knows what they gain when they lose their shyness.

We trust people, their good judgment, and common sense rather than procedures and policies. We believe that a good process helps talented people achieve momentous results, and a lousy process helps mediocre people defend themselves.

We obsess over results and metrics. We measure what adds value to learn, innovate, and evolve, not to blame. We do it to assess needs, drive change, and measure impact.

Pilots of our destiny:

We have well-defined dreams, purposes, and goals. We know that nothing will happen if we do nothing, that the best plan is the one we set in motion, and that talent is not everything. Therefore, we are curious, creative, autonomous, enthusiastic, and persevering. We are always learning, innovating, and evolving.
It is the attitude that defines our organization and each of our teams. We always visualize and act ambitiously: We dream big, think big, do big. We create enormous value and are responsible.

Knowledge:

We intend to create an environment where people, as pilots of their destiny, learn, innovate, evolve, and network to engage with information, turn it into knowledge, and share it. Thus, we motivate creativity to ease the generation, transfer, integration, and use of knowledge in daily life. We love to share our knowledge; the more we teach, the more we are obliged to learn.

Our philosophy: Know more to solve better.

Mobilizing reflection:

We believe that frequent individual and collective reflection connects us with learning, innovation, and evolution, allowing us to improve and obtain the outstanding results that inspire us. We reflect to move forward, not to blame. We ask ourselves: What effects did we expect to produce? What results did we obtain? What have we done well to do it again? What have we done wrong to do it differently? Besides, we venture to do other things and travel new paths to achieve the results we seek. Faced with what is new, we ask: What results do we hope to obtain? What challenges do we foresee? What have we learned from similar situations? What will make us successful this time?

The power of simplicity:

We look for the easiest way to solve our challenges: minimizing complexity and finding the time and the way to simplify. We do not allow things to become complex or make them complex. We renounce the ego to streamline and make processes more practical. We resolve first what has the most impact; we do not work for the exception.

The end user first:

We seek, hand in hand with our clients, to improve the lives of brands’ end-users. Thus, in decision-making, we favor the end user over the client, the client over Pragma, Pragma over the team, and the team over each of us.

We believe everything should mesh, avoiding isolated efforts. Is anyone else thinking about this? Let’s assemble. We work iteratively and incrementally from less to more. We put first what has the most impact and teaches us the most. We leave wheels running.

We trust and build relevant and authentic relationships, recognizing the other and ourselves as 100% valid and fallible interlocutors. The baggage the other brings to the conversation is as good as mine. We embrace diversity, put ourselves in the other’s shoes, walk in them for a while, and understand that diversity makes us more powerful. This is how we act personally and professionally.

We do not tolerate the abuse of power or the pressure on people to make them work with insecurity or fear.

They are what move us. We privilege them over means, but our values always come first. We prefer them over being right or showing off. We seek incredible results for the end user of the brands we serve, our clients, Pragma, our team, and ourselves. Then, based on objective and actionable metrics, we communicate and collect them.We care about results more than following processes or following policies.

We use our knowledge, good judgment, and common sense to achieve them. We understand that processes are one more working tool. We are proud of what we have achieved and of our company: It is not worth working or doing something of which we are not proud. We leave mediocrity in the past.

Remarkable results rarely come from taking modest risks. We are aware of them, use our good judgment and common sense to accept them, and deal with them intelligently. They do not paralyze us; we care for ourselves to move forward.

We communicate with honesty and respect. We demand transparency when we have any doubts. The information is available to everyone, except when it is not only Pragma’s. We work with shared context and purpose. We acknowledge our mistakes, apologize, and correct them. This is how we build trust!

We do not let anyone go off a cliff. We give them prompt notice out of a genuine desire to help them become more powerful, with actionable information, not to vent frustrations. When given this warning, we understand that we have blind spots and that it is convenient for us to have the point of view of others to get to know ourselves increasingly. Therefore, we thank you. Since we do not swallow it whole, we reflect and decide whether to accept or reject the observation.

Part of the solution:

We are dissatisfied by nature, do not fall for it, and always look for new challenges and ways of doing things. We question inconsistencies. We love to propose and be part of the solution.

Communication:

We know how to give and receive timely, transparent, sincere, and constructive feedback based on facts and consequences. We are initiative-taking. When we have a complaint to make, we file it with the right person. We pay no attention to anonymous messages or hallway huddles. We say what we think to improve our company, whether they are suggestions, congratulations, or problems, and we do it respectfully, regardless of differences and disagreements. When we disagree, we express it, and our candor is not used against us; however, we support the decisions made.

Tenacity and courage:

We are not afraid of mistakes; we learn from them. We reinvent ourselves as many times as necessary. We do the right thing, even if it is not the easiest.

Nothing will happen if you do nothing:

We do not like indecision. We analyze the situation, show the data, hold debates, and make decisions. A wrong decision is better than no decision at all. A controversial decision is better than not deciding. We are predisposed to action. We encourage Pragma members to make decisions.

We work as a team:

Alone, we go faster, but in good company, we go further. We work for the purpose that unites us and not the responsibilities that separate us. We know each other as people and professionals, work side by side, and trust our colleagues. Every three months, we go out together to share and get to know each other better.

Context:

We constantly seek a place: where we are going, where we come from, the direction to follow, what the strategy is, what the critical metrics are, what assumptions we made, what the goals are, what responsibilities each role has, what is at stake, what would be nice to have already (until when), what the desired level of accuracy is (perfect, beta, alpha), what the definition of success and failure is, and who the key people are.

Our leaders:

They give context and direction but no guidelines for getting there. They are enthusiastic coaches and mentors. They inspire us, connect with people so that the desired action becomes a common goal, help us achieve more than we thought possible, provide us with context, and challenge us. They ease our path toward achieving outstanding results. When someone talented on the team messes up, we do not blame them; we wonder where they missed contextualization. Before wanting to control someone, we first ask ourselves: (I) How can we give it more context? (II) Do we inspire enough? (III) Is the strategy clear? and (IV) Are the aims clear?

Our mission is to guarantee them a winning digital transformation. We serve them as Pragma, without surnames, and with business sense. We trust them. Our commitment to outstanding results earns their trust. We are flexible, have a shared purpose and vision, and are responsible and part of the solution. We make their challenges our own by intelligently identifying, understanding, and solving their problems.

We know they are scarce, so we take care of, manage, and make effective use of them, seeking what most benefits Pragma members and Pragma.

We persevere and try to solve our problems. However, we know how to ask for help in time and, above all, are willing to cooperate because we understand that this is how our team becomes increasingly powerful. Our primary responsibility is to help others and to be attentive to how or what we should do.

We love visitors and sharing with people who come from outside. We receive them as soon as they arrive, let them in and go with them all the time since they are vital to us. If they will be our co-team members for several days, we integrate them into our team dynamics and ensure they feel like Pragma members during their stay.

We do not like them, so before convening one, we ask ourselves: What happens if I do not hold it? Is a real-time conversation necessary? In the end, how will I judge the success or failure of the meeting? With what other means can I fulfill the aim of the meeting? But when we make them, we make the goal clear from the notice and take charge, so they succeed. They are short, and we finish them on time. We only invite people who must be there and who are going to contribute. We understand that nothing will happen if we do nothing, so the actions at the end are clear, measurable, challenging, and realistic; they have a date for their execution and a person in charge. When we find ourselves in a situation in a meeting where we are not learning or contributing, we move. We go somewhere else where we can learn or contribute. Before accepting a meeting invitation, we ask ourselves these questions: What is the goal? Will I contribute to the meeting? Is my presence necessary? Can someone else on my team be more helpful in the discussion? Let’s not be ashamed to say no #IDon’tFallForIt.

We take care of ourselves and know that we must rest and balance work and our lives, so we never accumulate vacation periods.

The truth is we care little. We are ourselves, and we like to feel comfortable. We know how to dress and use our good judgment and common sense according to the circumstances.

Each to their own. We want everyone to feel comfortable with their work area; therefore, we adapt our environment according to our tastes and those around us.

At Pragma, we do everything possible to guarantee the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our data and that of third parties.

Impressive results matter more to us than the hours of work and where we produce them. However, we believe that the interaction between people produces the best results. Our schedule is flexible; it depends on each of us according to our work team and responsibilities. Everyone can arrive when they want, but not a minute later. Once we commit, we deliver.

Some ideas that go around our heads

We do not allow ourselves to be dragged down to the average.
You must treat people like adults.
We all must understand our business in Pragma, the market, and the competition.
We are action-oriented.
We tell our colleagues what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and what they should start doing. When we believe that someone is wrong, we do our best to show them that they are wrong, and we do not wait for them to be wrong to rejoice with “I told you so.”
We take intelligent risks.
When referring to someone, we only say what we have already said to them face to face.
Talent is not enough. It requires an outstanding commitment to us, passion, and perseverance.
We are optimistic.
We adapt: We are constantly changing and evolving, 100% committed to the long term.
We are centered: We understand the strategy, the metrics, the assumptions, the goals, the responsibilities in the roles, and what is at stake.
We are aware of relative priorities: what needs to happen now, what would be nice to have (until when), the level of accuracy (perfect, beta, alpha), the metrics that matter, the definition of success and failure, and the key people.
The more we teach, the more compelled we are to learn.
We have the courage: to recognize ourselves, trust each other, communicate, make tough decisions, make mistakes, change, and persevere.
We solve and let our partners solve.
What is important seems important.
Debates are won with data, not with an organization chart. We show the data, debate, decide, and move forward. A poor decision is better than no decision at all. A controversial decision is better than not deciding.
People communicate with people. All our communications are made by people. Areas do not speak.
We are an excellent professional team. We hire, develop and fire smart, so we always have the right people in every position.
We prefer to hire people who are better than us and can teach us something to be more potent as a team.
We prefer to have uncomfortable conversations face-to-face. We do not hide behind the mail or with impersonal communications. Unwelcome news has a face, name, and surname.

Our inspiration

Valve. Handbook for new employees.
Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister - Peopleware.
Laszlo Bock, Erick Schmidth, and Jonathan Rosenberg - Google.
Peter F. Drucker.
Ricardo Semler - Semco.
Daniel Pink - Drive.
Garry Hamel.
Simon Sinek.
Reed Hastings and Patty McCord - Netflix.
Dharmesh Shah - Hubspot.
Dov Seidman - How.
Daniel Kahneman - Pensar rápido pensar despacio.
Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler - Un pequeño empujón.
Michael Litt - Vidyard.
Daniel Coyle - El código de la cultura.
Alejandro Salazar - La estrategia emergente y la muerte del plan estratégico.
Stuart E. and Hubert L. Dreyfus
Ed Catmull - Pixar