[cli]

>If you create a dynamic work environment with a constant influx of interesting problems to deal with, you lose the 8-by-5 solid employees with families you make up the framework of lots of successful companies.

I have no experience with these things. Why would this be the case? Is it because "a dynamic work environment with a constant influx of interesting problems to deal with" implies longer work hours?

[bane]

Lots of very solid, very good employees don't want to be rockstar programmers. They want you to define a desired end-state, give them a due date in a few months and leave them to solve it within the bounds of their regular job hours.

If you think of an orchestra, it's like all the nameless people in the violin section vs. soloist. Optimizing for rockstars is like optimizing for soloists and that rarely works well.

They're your steady soldiers, getting the job done at the pace you set. They can be used to set organizational tempo, long-term goals, etc. They're the ones who will work for your company for 10 years and not complain too much.

But they also recognize that they're working to live, not living to work. Lots of startups want their employees to be obsesses with their work, they want all the employees to do things together, live together, marry each other, they want them to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together.

Lots of employees find that a huge turnoff, because frankly, they have better lives than what any startup can offer.