[jessed]

I think Github is a special case because at Github they are their own customers.

Developer/hackers know what other developer/hackers want because they want it themselves.

It's a great place to be as a developer and as a product company, but I don't think it's attainable everywhere.

[Kynlyn]

Exactly my point. I think what they are doing is great and there is a lot to learn from it. However, they have very talented developers whose job is to build tools for other developers. Scratching your own itch is much more likely to benefit the organization at GH than it is at, say, a corporate IT department or any other company whose customers aren't developers.

A big part of what makes their culture possible is the product they are building and the customer that they are building it for. Change those things, and unfortunately, you are very likely to have to change the culture a bit.