The word is out. Roy Singham is selling the flagship of IT Consulting. The champions of agility, the pioneers of DevOps, the first company to coin the already overused term "Microservices". The company with what may very well be the highest concentration of conference speakers and book authors in the entire industry. People like Rebecca Parsons, Martin Fowler, Neal Ford, Erik Dörnenburg.
And who are the new owners? A combination of employees and Ex-ThoughtWorkers who have got enough funds? Or maybe some independent Trust? No - although the latter is what Roy had envisioned. Martin explains very well why this scenario was deemed not feasible. It's tax-related - basically this solution would have left ThoughtWorks insolvent.
Enter Apax, an investment company in the "Private Equity" space. In layman's terms, they help filthily rich people secure their wealth - and maybe increase it moderately. But unlike the stock market world, they don't look at quarterly figures. Rather, they're interested in growth over a few years time.
And who are the new owners? A combination of employees and Ex-ThoughtWorkers who have got enough funds? Or maybe some independent Trust? No - although the latter is what Roy had envisioned. Martin explains very well why this scenario was deemed not feasible. It's tax-related - basically this solution would have left ThoughtWorks insolvent.
Enter Apax, an investment company in the "Private Equity" space. In layman's terms, they help filthily rich people secure their wealth - and maybe increase it moderately. But unlike the stock market world, they don't look at quarterly figures. Rather, they're interested in growth over a few years time.
Not exactly the kind of thing you like to learn at any given point in time, and certainly not when you just arrived to the place less than two weeks ago like myself. Does this mean the social experiment has failed? Not at all! By all accounts, Apax have promised (in a believable manner) that they will leave ThoughtWorks continuing to be run the way the company has been running for many years. Additionally, the leadership group announced this change in a very respectable manner: We (=All employees) received an elaborate email roughly 12 hours before the press statement, there were two video conferences with the entire leadership team throughout the day (the latter probably being intended primarily for the US colleagues), and we had two Q&A sessions in the local office (one for lunch (provided!), one in the early evening intended primarily for the colleagues out on client sites in the area - again with provided dinner). In return for learning this before any of the clients and the general public, we were asked to remain silent on social media etc. until after the official announcement.
The sessions themselves proved to me even more what a special place this company is. Given my considerable time in the professional world, it's not the first time I'm witnessing this kind of deal. In fact, this was how I joined my previous employer. On every single occasion, people usually worry about their own job first. Nobody asked this kind of question at either session, because the trust is unbroken! All questions were related to the details of the deal (the disclosure of which I'll leave to official channels), the future of the company, what's happening to the infamous 3 Pillars. That kind of thing. No concerns about redundancies or the like. The slave traders recruiters will be out hunting ThoughtWorkers even more than they did before, but somehow I doubt they will be significantly more successful than they were in the past.
Yes, this kind of announcement will always incur some sadness in the staff members. I dare say it's even somewhat sad for the industry as a whole. Heck, articles about this deal are even featured on HackerNews! Even my wife who's not in the IT business at all is feeling sad about this development, because she has met several ThoughtWorkers on a few occasions and can relate to this crazy place. ThoughtWorks are extremely respected for our achievements, values and culture. Being accepted here was a bit like finding the Holy Grail. I think one of my colleagues who has been in TW for a few years put it very well yesterday when he said: "I can't really put my finger on it, but a little of the magic died today."
That may be, but I think there's still more than enough magic left! I still consider ThoughtWorks an inspiration to the industry and an inspiring workplace with amazing people. We may just have fallen a bit back into reality. It's comparable to what one of the TV people said after the men's 100 metres final at this year's IAAF World Championships in London which the undoubted superstar of the past decade didn't win: "Usain Bolt is human after all!" Well, in the same manner, ThoughtWorks are a business after all. But still an amazing workplace!
