Introduction

To be successful at balena is to become a better product builder. No matter what you’re doing, whether your strength is in operations, commercial, engineering, finance, distribution, hardware, software, support, or elsewhere, we are all leveraging our unique skills and domain expertise to build better products. And not just the obvious products we build for our users, but the products, processes, and experiences we build for ourselves as well. Each and every team member at balena is therefore an aspiring product builder.

Balena is a collective of product builders honing our craft. We are helping each other and sharing our knowledge along the way. We are expanding our understanding by trying many different things and learning from the results. We are open to failing and disagreeing if it helps us improve. We are constantly updating our collective intelligence and providing one another with mutual assistance. We are all aware of the external realities and broader context we operate in, and are also familiar with the details of what, exactly, we are building. We are confident and curious, aware of our limitations but also how to circumvent them. We are motivated to solve harder and harder problems, and to use the knowledge gained to build valuable products for ourselves and for our users - to build things that have never been built before.

We think that creating a company of product builders is the best way to achieve our mission. We also think it’s the best way to build a scalable, antifragile, omni-win-win organization where work is fulfilling, engaging, and meaningful.

What is a product?

A product is something that solves a problem. It satisfies a particular want or need for a particular user. Importantly, a product is designed with this user in mind. A product is a solution that works for all users with the same problem, not something that has to be built custom or from scratch every time the same problem arises. A product should be able to scale to any general user solving the same problem.

A product also has a clear boundary and function - it can interact and be combined with other products through defined surfaces, but a product itself solves a specific problem with a specific solution. Products should be able to work on their own, be applied in various contexts, and be swapped with other products that attempt to solve the same problem.

How can I be a Product Builder at balena?

1. Mission alignment. You have a deep understanding of our mission and how your work relates to it. You make decisions and focus your energy in ways that advance our mission. You believe that what we’re building is important, and make sure it’s done to the highest standard.
2. Ownership. Whether we succeed or fail in our mission is in the hands of every person at balena. You are responsible for the success of our products and constantly find ways to improve them. You have a low tolerance for friction and shortcuts. You take pride and ownership in the quality and outcomes of your work.
3. Short term pain for long term gain. You recognize that achieving our mission is a long game, and you prioritize long-term value over short-term results. You don’t make decisions based on expediency, but rather on their potential to contribute to our future success, even if that means more time and effort for you today.
4. First principles thinking. You challenge default solutions, question assumptions, break problems down into their basic elements, and reassemble from the ground up. You reason your way to the right answer, borrowing from others as appropriate, but only if it fits our context. You seek to understand the true limits of what's possible.
5. Root cause problem solver. You allow yourself to flow towards problems that call out for your attention, but then find the pattern causing the problem, and solve the root cause of that pattern. By solving the underlying pattern, you prevent the problem from being repeated in the future, freeing you and your teammates to move on to new and more interesting challenges.
6. Zero to One Creativity. You turn ideas into reality. You envision and then create new futures that haven’t existed before. You look for ways things can be done instead of ways they can’t be done. You’re limited only by the laws of nature, and don’t give up just because something seems difficult or a path forward is not immediately obvious.
7. Self-reflection. You build reflection into your daily routine. You evaluate your own thinking, decisions, and actions. You embrace and learn from your mistakes. You are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and seek out feedback.
8. Pursue the truth. You are comfortable challenging others and being challenged in the open, letting go of the need to “be liked” in the moment. You recognize that “friends don’t let friends be wrong.” We are in a common pursuit for the truth and ideas should live, die, and rapidly evolve based on their merits.
9. Optimize for understanding. You constantly seek to understand “what is going on here?” You are comfortable diving into the unknown and letting go of the need to “be right.” You acquire information, make connections, recognize patterns, experiment, and then repeat the feedback loop. You ask questions when you don’t understand what is going on.
10. Adaptability. You pay close attention to signals from the world around you and adjust accordingly. You experiment frequently, absorb new information quickly, update your thinking, and change course as needed. You remain nimble, responsive, and alert to possibility.
11. Open mindedness. You are receptive to new ideas and ways of thinking. You are skilled at unlearning and rethinking conventional wisdom. You are curious and creative and seek to explore new territory.
12. Continuous improvement. You constantly get more productive and help grow the team’s collective intelligence. You solve increasingly difficult problems by building on top of past solutions, moving to higher levels of abstraction, and enabling other product builders. You are constantly re-learning your craft and re-defining your job. You see yourself as a work-in-progress.