Zapier values
10+ years into Zapier's journey, our values continue to evolve.
Zapier's values invite us to adopt a shared set of behaviors. They connect us to our mission, our culture, and each other. They guide decisions, big and small. They remind us of who we are when we're at our best. Without values, we default to the majority, leaving us with hidden rules and no "Zapier way" to promote inclusion and define what's right.
These five Zapier values were first published in 2018. In 2022, we reviewed our values and decided to retain and refresh them. We specifically updated our value descriptions and examples using input from across Zapier, with a focus on how each value relates to two of Zapier's essential focus areas: (a) customer impact and (b) diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity (DIBE).
The most successful Zapier team members embody these values. When setting the direction for our work, growing our team, and interacting with our customers, we look to our values to guide the way.
At Zapier, we're building toward a future that does not yet exist. As a result, delivering something real today—and learning from it—is typically better than delivering something of questionably better quality next week.
However: action is not an achievement unto itself. Instead, our actions should connect to clear priorities and outcomes, especially what's best for our mission and customers.
We're a growing, distributed team across more than a dozen time zones. We do our best work when we make projects, processes, and systems available to everyone who needs them—inclusive of our customers. Transparency promotes equity and inclusion within our team and customer base. So work in public. Have discussions in the open and document your work.
Transparency does not mean consultation or consensus on all decisions. In fact, an important form of transparency is clarity on who is responsible for a decision and who will be consulted.
We set ambitious goals at Zapier. We want our customers, people, and company to grow. Achieving these goals requires us to regularly learn and improve. Thankfully, our success has more to do with how quickly we learn than how "perfect" we are in a given moment.
Whether it's about how we work or the work itself, feedback enables growth. As such, feedback is one of Zapier's most essential practices. Even so, feedback can be hard to give and hard to receive. We make a point to become good at it anyway—it's just that important.
Our customers and teams are part of a global community. To serve them best, we need to understand them. Empathy promotes understanding, curiosity, and humility—qualities that help us connect with and serve our customers. Empathy has similar positive effects on collaboration and belonging within our team.
On ego: we all have them, and it's important that we share our perspectives in pursuit of what's right. But sometimes ego can bias our thinking too strongly toward our own views. It's for this reason that we emphasize empathy over ego.
No matter your role, you'll find yourself doing repetitive work. Zapier is all about finding ways to work better—whether through automation, simplification, or prioritization—so that we can spend more time doing what humans do best.
Note that it's unhelpful to automate or simplify the wrong process or outcome. Manual, less efficient processes are often the right approach early on. We default to action and accept inefficiency when it helps confirm the problems we're solving, and to test solutions for those problems.