Expense Checker Reveals Truth

Matt Mullenweg shares a story about an insight he gained from spending time with his company's expense auditor.

"A few days ago, I spent thirty to forty-five minutes with the gentleman who checks expenses at the company. Because we have these ramp cards and people expense things, sometimes we question expenses or ask for receipts.

I had gotten feedback that some folks felt the questions they were getting felt aggressive, so I wanted to understand more. I shadowed him to see the tools they used and how the work was done. Through this, I realized some of our internal tools don't represent best practices in design or usability - the internal stuff doesn't get the love that external stuff does.

We talked about the culture of Automatic and bedside manner - how we can hold our principles while enforcing policies. Instead of just saying 'you need a receipt,' we should explain the principles behind it: 'If we don't have these receipts, our auditors might question this, which could create issues.' It's about communicating the 'why' behind our policies."