I recently had a drink with a friend who is a senior software engineer at Monzo. What stuck in my mind for days was how excited he was about his latest project: Contents insurance.
Sounds boring, right? But when I saw the signup form, it was anything but. Full of thoughtful microcopy and playful animations that adapt to your input.
He told me the engineers built those without being asked, because the culture encourages them to have fun. Nobody pressured them to cut corners; they were simply allowed to play.
And it’s working. Monzo has just posted its third profitable year in a row, with 79% of new customers joining through word of mouth.
Back in April, I wrote about Easter eggs – the little interactions most people don’t even notice, with no purpose other than to make someone smile. That value is hard to quantify in a boardroom. But it’s a reminder of why we built technology in the first place: to make our lives better, to make the world better, and because it was fun.
When the fun stops, values follow close behind
That’s the problem. Tech giants that were once small teams of engineers who loved what they did now answer to billions of dollars’ worth of investment. Every decision, every line of code and every minute is accountable, and there’s no room left to play. And when the fun stops, values follow close behind.
Jerry Greenfield’s motto at Ben & Jerry’s was “If it’s not fun, why do it?” Unilever bought the company in 2000 with a legal promise to protect its social mission. After a row over Palestine, Jerry resigned, saying the brand had been silenced. Within months, the board protecting that mission was gone.
Patagonia started in the same place, but never sold. Its ‘Let My People Go Surfing’ policy lets staff drop everything when the surf comes up, and people who love the outdoors fight hardest to protect it. Rather than sell or go public, Yvon Chouinard gave the company to a trust and a non-profit, announcing that “Earth is now our only shareholder.”
It’s much harder once you answer to a board of investors. But small and medium-sized businesses employ 60% of the UK’s private-sector workforce, and thousands of you still have the control to make play part of your culture.
When your team enjoys what it’s building your customers notice. It gives them faith that your business is run by people just like them, who love what they do and care about people and the planet.
I’m taking my own stand in the name of play. From now on, every new website I build will include a bonus feature, free of charge. The catch? Its only purpose must be to make people smile.
Play is your canary in the coal mine. Keep it singing.