You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss

<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> Want to start a startup?

<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> 想要创业吗？

Get funded by Y Combinator .

获得 Y Combinator 的资助。

</td > March 2008, rev.

</td> 2008 年 3 月，修订版。

June 2008 Technology tends to separate normal from natural.

2008 年 6 月 技术倾向于将正常与自然区分开。

Our bodies weren't designed to eat the foods that people in rich countries eat, or to get so little exercise.

我们的身体本来就不是为了吃富裕国家人民吃的食物而设计的，也不是为了进行很少的锻炼而设计的。

There may be a similar problem with the way we work: a normal job may be as bad for us intellectually as white flour

我们的工作方式可能也存在类似的问题：正常的工作对我们的智力可能就像白面粉一样有害

or sugar is for us physically.

或者糖是为了我们的身体。

I began to suspect this after spending several years working with startup founders.

在与初创公司创始人合作了几年后，我开始怀疑这一点。

I've now worked with over 200 of them, and I've noticed a definite difference between programmers working on their own startups and those working for large organizations.

我现在已经与超过 200 名程序员合作过，并且我注意到在自己的初创公司工作的程序员和在大型组织工作的程序员之间存在明显的区别。

I wouldn't say founders seem happier, necessarily; starting a startup can be very stressful.

我并不认为创始人看起来更快乐，这是必然的。创业可能会带来很大的压力。

Maybe the best way to put

也许最好的放置方式

it is to say that they're happier in the sense that your body is happier during a long run than sitting on a sofa eating doughnuts.

也就是说，从长远来看，你的身体比坐在沙发上吃甜甜圈更快乐，他们更快乐。

Though they're statistically abnormal, startup founders seem to be working in a way that's more natural for humans.

尽管从统计数据来看，初创公司创始人的工作方式是异常的，但他们似乎正在以一种对人类来说更自然的方式工作。

I was in Africa last year and saw a lot of animals in the wild that I'd only seen in zoos before.

去年我在非洲，看到了很多以前只在动物园里见过的野生动物。

It was remarkable how different they seemed.

令人惊奇的是，他们看起来多么不同。

Particularly lions.

特别是狮子。

Lions in the wild seem about ten times

野外的狮子看起来大约是十倍

more alive.

更有活力。

They're like different animals.

他们就像不同的动物。

I suspect that working for oneself feels better to humans in much the same way that living in the wild must feel better to a wide-ranging predator like a lion.

我怀疑，为自己工作对人类来说感觉更好，就像生活在野外对像狮子这样广泛的捕食者来说一定感觉更好一样。

Life in a zoo is easier, but it isn't the life they were designed for.

动物园里的生活比较轻松，但这不是他们设计的生活。

Trees What's so unnatural about working for a big company?

树 在一家大公司工作有什么不自然的地方？

The root of the problem is that humans weren't meant to work in such large

问题的根源在于人类不适合在如此大的环境中工作

groups.

组。

Another thing you notice when you see animals in the wild is that each species thrives in groups of a certain size.

当您在野外看到动物时，您会注意到的另一件事是，每个物种都以一定规模的群体繁衍生息。

A herd of impalas might have 100 adults; baboons maybe 20; lions rarely 10.

一群黑斑羚可能有 100 只成年黑斑羚；狒狒可能有20只；狮子很少 10.

Humans also seem designed to work in groups, and what I've read about hunter-gatherers accords with research on organizations and my own experience to suggest roughly what the ideal size is: groups of 8

人类似乎也被设计为在群体中工作，我所读到的关于狩猎采集者的内容与对组织的研究和我自己的经验相一致，大致建议了理想的规模：8 人为一组

work well; by 20 they're getting hard to manage; and a group of 50 is really unwieldy.

工作顺利；到了20岁，他们就变得难以管理；而且50人一组确实很笨重。

[ 1

[ 1