I'm loathe to criticize Joel, but:<p>I don't see how taking 2 days and leadership time demonstrates concern for employees. Getting someone in who can take care of the problem quickly and efficiently* seems like it's better 'staying out of the programmer's way' than taking two days.<p>I think the lesson from the toilet cleaning was, "Look, if I'm going to require perfect inspections, I'm sure as hell going to have an immaculate bathroom. I also recognize that I need to show you how to perform to the level I expect. So here's how it's done."<p>That hands-on, know-what-you're-doing leadership is what's respectable. Making an object lesson, on the other hand, is hardly laudable.<p>*This falls into the "why I hesitate": if Joel could do it faster and more cheaply than having someone else come in that knows what they're doing, my criticism is less harsh, though I still think he's taking the 'wrong' lesson from his military experience.
* When you do something humble - is it still humble when you waste a few more hours writing about it and showing it off to the world?<p>* When you do something humble and it's rather unnecessary waste of time and effort - is it positively humble or genuinely pointless?<p>* When you want to send the frugality message to the team - do you first spend a few Ks on the blinds, then tear them down and then ruin the ceiling trying to undo what you did previously? Is that the "I'll do anything for your comfort" message?<p>There are million other ways to show support and make your people feel good. Pointless and unnecessary stuff is not among those ways.
The prim sergeant cleaning the toilet story is getting old, but the rest of the article after that was actually pretty good. Persistence, reluctant readers!
I'm all for leadership by example. I think that Joel led by example when he was still actively developing code.<p>Hanging blinds? Not so much. Hanging blinds strikes me more as an entertaining diversion from normal work than as a way to show leadership.<p>I enjoy Joel's writing and think he sounds like a good guy. I'd be curious to see what he did if some of his employees left Fog Creek to start a company. The reaction would be a good measure of leadership.
I think the article is right on the money. We've been inundated the past few months with articles about a__hat CEO's in the financial services industry who were absolutely clueless, allowed their people to take financial risks that have brought their companies to their knees, while taking tens of millions of dollars in bonuses.<p>Meanwhile, Joel says that sometimes as a CEO, it's helpful if you put up the blinds and not just say that you care about your employees. CEO's get stuff out of their way so their people can do the work.<p>Hell, a CEO just using the term, "servant leadership" to describe their philosophy of management is a pretty idea these days, considering what the financial sector is going through.