3 ms·

Yeah, everywhere that's close to sales it's usually possible to attribute revenue shares directly. But even in those organizations a lot of people will be doing

by t_mann 5y ago

Yeah, everywhere that's close to sales it's usually possible to attribute revenue shares directly. But even in those organizations a lot of people will be doing work that can't be directly measured (IT, accounting,...), so either you cut those people out of bonuses or you find some metrics to include them.

jameshart 5y ago
Editorial work is not close to sales. It’s upfront product development work. What Wrox did, though, was very clearly assign editors to book projects. You worked on one book at a time - each book was a little startup venture that shipped a product at the end.
- toast0 5y ago
  Editorial work is close to sales in that it's clear that editorial quality impacts sales and it can be clear who did the editorial work on an item that sold. (Depends on the editorial process though, if you do a lot of group work, maybe it's hard to say who did how much). As opposed to IT work where sure, if the editors computer doesn't work, it's hard for them to do their editing, but there's not much connection to a specific item.
  - jameshart 5y ago
    Well, that’s rather my point. Most publishers don’t run editorial work like that, but if you are able to organize your teams around products that have clear revenue streams, even indirect work can be attributed to it. Look at the credit roll on a video game and you’ll see credits for ‘IT support’. The lesson I take from the Wrox experience is that there might be ways for other businesses to pull the same trick and get the same benefits. But I’ve not often seen it attempted.
    - t_mann 5y ago
      If you are able to organize your teams around products that have clear revenue streams, even indirect work can be attributed to it That's pretty much what every finance department in every company on earth large enough to have one does (with notable exceptions maybe of hyper-growth start-ups).

by t_mann 5y ago

jameshart 5y ago

Editorial work is not close to sales. It’s upfront product development work. What Wrox did, though, was very clearly assign editors to book projects. You worked on one book at a time - each book was a little startup venture that shipped a product at the end.

toast0 5y ago
Editorial work is close to sales in that it's clear that editorial quality impacts sales and it can be clear who did the editorial work on an item that sold. (Depends on the editorial process though, if you do a lot of group work, maybe it's hard to say who did how much). As opposed to IT work where sure, if the editors computer doesn't work, it's hard for them to do their editing, but there's not much connection to a specific item.
- jameshart 5y ago
  Well, that’s rather my point. Most publishers don’t run editorial work like that, but if you are able to organize your teams around products that have clear revenue streams, even indirect work can be attributed to it. Look at the credit roll on a video game and you’ll see credits for ‘IT support’. The lesson I take from the Wrox experience is that there might be ways for other businesses to pull the same trick and get the same benefits. But I’ve not often seen it attempted.
  - t_mann 5y ago
    If you are able to organize your teams around products that have clear revenue streams, even indirect work can be attributed to it That's pretty much what every finance department in every company on earth large enough to have one does (with notable exceptions maybe of hyper-growth start-ups).