Software from the kitchen If you want to know what someone is like, look at their office. Tidy desk, efficient mind. Untidy desk, busy mind. But this doesn’t fit Gordon Jackman, who started business software producer Quillatic. He works at home, in the untidiest kitchen I’ve ever seen, yet he strangely hates untidiness in business more than anything else. At the same time he admits that he has little interest in detail. Jackman describes his colleagues as ‘sweepers’. He explains: ‘I can only get as far as the first 80% of an idea, but I know this weakness, so I leave it to everyone else to finish my ideas, to make sure details aren’t forgotten. People who don’t know their weaknesses run untidy companies and have unhappy companies.’ Jackman is a strong believer in testing people’s personal qualities as part of the recruitment process, and he and his 60 employees were all tested. He admits that such a strong belief in this is unusual in business, but adds, ‘Have you ever noticed how teachers seem to be the same type of person? People do seem to select the job that’s right for their type.’ Most of his ideas, he says, are not new but come from reading just about every management book that’s published. ‘You wouldn’t expect a doctor not to have read anything about medicine since qualifying, yet with management it seems to be allowed,’ he sys. ‘You have to read whatever’s out there. Even if a book gives you only one idea, it’s something you didn’t have before.’ Jackman believes in developing his staff, but business deals come first. ‘I believe in appointing people to do what they can and not more. So, for example, at the moment I have a very good salesman who has almost completed a sale but won’t close the deal himself as he doesn’t have enough experience yet.’ At the same time, he has strong ideas about rewards. ‘Sales staff can earn as much as manager, because I recognize that if one person’s doing a great job at managing, and another at selling, there’s no reason for a difference in pay. And although experience may make a difference, in the end it’s actions that count.’ Running a company from a kitchen may not be recommended by many writers on management, but for Gordon Jackman it’s a great success.