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Company
Purpose
Fleet Device Management Inc is an open-core company that sells subscriptions that offer more features and support for Fleet and osquery, the leading open source endpoint agent.
We are dedicated to:
- 🧑🚀 automating IT and security with a living, breathing API.
- 🪟 privacy, transparency, and trust through open source software.
- 💻 a better way to manage computers.
Culture
All remote
Fleet Device Management Inc. is an all-remote company with team members spread across four continents and eight time zones. The broader team of contributors worldwide submits patches, bug reports, troubleshooting tips, improvements, and real-world insights to Fleet's open-source code base, documentation, website, and company handbook.
Open source
The majority of the code, documentation, and content we create at Fleet is public and source-available. The Fleet handbook is the central guide for how we run the company, and even it is open to the world. We strive to be open and transparent in the way we run the business, as much as confidentiality agreements (and time) allow. We perform better with an audience, and our audience performs better with us.
Why this way?
At Fleet, we rarely label ideas as drafts or theories. Everything is always in draft and subject to change in future iterations. But to get results, we need to balance being smart with moving quickly. That means embracing decisiveness in the face of uncertainty.
To increase clarity and encourage teams to make decisions quickly, leaders and DRIs (directly responsible individuals) should explicitly mention when they are voicing an opinion or a decision. When an opinion is voiced, there's space for near-term debate. When a decision is voiced, team commitment is required.
The "Why this way?" page discusses some of Fleet's decisions about the best way to work. For example: "Why open source?" and "Why do we use a wireframe-first approach?" and "Why handbook-first strategy?".
Open positions
Fleet is currently hiring for the following positions:
Interested in joining the team at Fleet, or know someone who might be? Click one of the positions to read the job description and apply, or you can share a direct link to this page for a short read about the company, including our vision, values, history, and all currently open positions. Thank you for the help!
Org chart
Fleet's organizational chart is accessible as a sub-tab in "🧑🚀 Fleeties" (private google doc). On the other sub-tabs, you can also check out a world map of where everyone is located, hiring stats, and fun facts about each team member.
Product groups
Fleet organizes cross-functional groups focused on particular business goals. These include members from Design, Engineering, Quality, and Product. For more information, check out this page Product groups.
🌈 Values
Fleet's values are a set of five ideals adopted by everyone on the team. They describe the culture we are working together to deliver, inside and outside the company:
- 🔴 Empathy
- 🟠 Ownership
- 🟢 Results
- 🔵 Objectivity
- 🟣 Openness
When a new team member joins Fleet, they adopt the values, from day one. This way, even as the company grows, everybody knows what to expect from the people with whom they work. Having a shared mindset keeps us quick and determined.
🔴 Empathy
Empathy leads to better understanding, better communication, and better decisions. Try to understand what people may be going through, so you can help make it better.
- Be considerate. Keep the needs of customers, contributors, and colleagues in mind. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated.
- Be curious. Ask questions. Try seeing situations from different perspectives. Use your imagination to find understanding.
- Remember the user. Prioritize product quality. Create patches with care. Fix bugs quickly. Take time writing error messages.
- Invest in hospitality. Apply customer service principles to all users. Be generous with your time. Think and say positive things.
🟠 Ownership
Achieving ambitious goals requires reliability and initiative. That’s why we encourage every Fleetie to think like an owner. Your impact goes beyond the responsibilities of your role.
- Be accountable. Follow through on commitments. Own up to mistakes. Understand how your work furthers Fleet’s goals.
- Be responsive. Respond quickly whether or not you can take immediate action. Offer feedback freely (even if you disagree).
- Think bigger. Remember the big picture beyond your team's goals. Consider how Fleet creates value for customers.
- Take initiative. You don't need permission to be thoughtful. Think for yourself (from first principles). Great ideas come from everyone.
🟢 Results
We work to get results. How we work determines the results we deliver. Between overthinking and rushing, there's a golden mean. We balance speed and sustainability to build high-quality products.
- Iterate your work. Look for ways to make frequent, small changes. Get perspective on complex problems. There may be a simpler solution.
- Move quickly. Aim to deliver results daily. "Everything is in draft." Resist gold-plating and avoid bike-shedding.
- Be efficient. Focus on fewer tasks at one time. Use fewer words when possible. Go with "boring solutions." Keep things simple.
- Practice self-care. Remember to take breaks. Schedule time off to recharge. Organize your workday to fit your lifestyle.
🔵 Objectivity
Our objective as a company is to make money. This is how we measure success. Customers pay for products that make a difference. Approach every project with this in mind.
- Be humble. Seek feedback and understanding. Remember, it’s rare to get things right the first time. Question yourself.
- Underpromise and overdeliver. Be practical about what's possible. But don’t settle for the “happy path” right away.
- Prioritize the truth. Feel free to change your mind in the face of new evidence. Avoid the sunk cost fallacy. Give credit where credit is due.
- Be rigorous. A lucky fix without understanding does more harm than good. When something isn't working, use the scientific method.
🟣 Openness
Openness leads to better products and stronger partnerships. Being open about your work isn’t always easy. But practicing this skill will help you throughout your career.
- Welcome contributions. Be friendly, inclusive, and approachable. Get comfortable letting others contribute to your domain.
- Embrace candor. Be positive and assume positive intent. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Give pointed and respectful feedback.
- Write everything down. Let people learn about your work. Use simple language. Avoid acronyms and idioms that might not translate.
- Be transparent. We build in the open. Everything we do is public by default. Declassify confidential information with care.
History
2014: Origins of osquery
In 2014, our CTO Zach Wasserman, together with Mike Arpaia and the rest of their team at Facebook, created an open source project called osquery.
2016: Origins of Fleet v1.0
A few years later, Zach, Mike Arpaia, and Jason Meller founded Kolide and created Fleet: an open source platform that made it easier and more productive to use osquery in an enterprise setting.
2019: The growing community
When Kolide's attention shifted away from Fleet, and towards their separate, user-focused SaaS offering, the Fleet community took over maintenance of the open source project. After his time at Kolide, Zach continued as lead maintainer of Fleet. He spent 2019 consulting and working with the growing open source community to support and extend the capabilities of the Fleet platform.
2020: Fleet was incorporated
Zach partnered with our CEO, Mike McNeil, to found a new, independent company: Fleet Device Management Inc. In November 2020, we announced the transition and kicked off the logistics of moving the GitHub repository.
Slack channels
The following Slack channels are maintained by Fleet's founders:
| Slack channel | DRI |
|---|---|
#general |
N/A (announce something company-wide) |
#thanks |
N/A (say thank you) |
#random |
N/A (be random) |
Stubs
The following stubs are included only to make links backward compatible.
Levels of confidentiality
Please see handbook/business-operations#levels-of-confidentiality.
Email relays
Please see handbook/business-operations#email-relays.
Tools we use
Please see handbook/business-operations#tools-we-use.