Powering the future, today

Manifesto

Our Culture

Read the following lines as a manifesto:

At Singular we have a strong culture. We do not see ourselves as an ordinary company, and we try to be very clear about this in interviews. The world is changing, AI is going to change everything and, on top of that, consulting is a hostile, meritocratic and highly competitive world.

At Singular we are direct and we tell the truth. This works both ways. Here we also want you to be direct and tell the truth. Hierarchy is irrelevant when it comes to communication. Things must be said, whoever they are said to. Clear communication is an essential pillar of any relationship.

The chain of command exists and must be respected in action, but it can also be questioned respectfully. Everyone must make an effort to understand one another. Every decision must be justified, and that justification must be public and transparent.

This profession and this company are not for everyone, and we do not intend them to be. That does not make us better or worse, just different.

There are companies where the pay is good and the work is lighter. If that is your goal in life, which is respectable and very sensible, please be clear about it. This is not the place for you. If you do not make that decision yourself, or are not honest about it, we will make it for you, and you will soon realise that you do not fit in a high-performance team. The consequence is that you will lose your job and will have wasted the time of everyone who is aligned with this culture.

Singular will suit you if you are ambitious, keen to learn something new every day and want to grow quickly in your career. Every year you spend with us will be worth several years elsewhere. That comes at the cost of greater exposure to challenges and responsibility, which brings more pressure, stress and workload, and more learning on your own and from your colleagues.

We aim to build an elite team. We detest mediocrity and actively fight it.

Difficult times lie ahead and our profession is changing. This mediocrity is causing the welfare state to collapse. The resulting lack of productivity, together with AI, will do the rest.

If you are going through your onboarding and reading this for the first time, stop here. Think it over; if you believe this is not the place for you, you are not sure, or these words do not resonate with you, there is still time to leave. We will pay you for this week, thank you for your effort, and you will save both yourself and us effort and headaches.

It is very hard to change a person. If you keep reading, please be clear that this is not a place for mediocrity. At Singular we pursue excellence.

If you decide to embrace this culture and work ethic, we will actively work to make you share in the company's success. You will build a relationship that goes beyond the professional and will be singular, in the sense of "unusual" or "special", like our name, because it will also have a personal dimension. We will get involved with you, with your situation and with your problems; we will be generous with our knowledge and sympathetic to your circumstances. This whole high-performance team will actively work to protect your interests and help you when you need it.

This company will become a source of security, growth and enrichment for you. Over time, we also want this company to become a mark of prestige on the CV of everyone who has worked here and embraced this culture and these values.

At Singular we try to reward that effort with a close relationship, fair pay, which we try to keep above the market with a reasonable base salary, and an incentive policy that rewards good results.

We want to build relationships that last a lifetime. We will actively work so that you do not want to leave and want to keep growing with us. At Singular we look after and protect our own. If you ever have doubts but want to stay and we are not competitive enough, please tell us. We will have an honest conversation and try to honour the words set out here.

At Singular we require every employee to give the company 40 hours a week and 1,800 hours a year (or the equivalent under the applicable collective agreement and/or contract) of real, conscious and measurable value. Some days you have to put in more hours, while on others you are ill, less productive or have a personal commitment to attend to. We are understanding: each employee must keep their own balance and talk to their manager when the situation is unfair or not working in either direction. We will do our best to correct and compensate for it. We account for our work to the company and to clients through timesheets, which every employee must fill in.

At Singular we value attitude, effort and commitment, which, well directed, are ingredients of success. That said, at Singular we reward results. We are not looking for employees who try hard; we are looking for results. This is hard to grasp at first, but it is key to the performance conversations you will have with your manager. Attitude, effort and commitment are ingredients to which you must add vision, analysis, reflection and care, in order to understand what we are doing, why we are doing it and what the goals are, and to align expectations, making sure we do not lose sight of the big picture by being too immersed in the detail.

Results are:

Satisfied clients who want to work with us again or recommend us.

Developing or contributing to successful projects that leave a margin for the company.

Work or actions that help us with, or result in:

Generating new business or opportunities.

Looking after existing relationships.

Improving our public image and contributing to the good name of the company or of those of us who are part of it.

Attracting good people.

Looking after our team.

Improving as a company by acting in a simpler, more efficient or more effective way.

Developing, researching and testing new technologies that could improve things.

Reducing risk or acting more securely.

Being more cohesive as a company, fostering professional and personal relationships within the team.

Contributing positively to society, using this company and its means as a vehicle.

As well as our values, we have a style of our own. This style is set by our dress and style policies. Among ourselves we are more relaxed. With clients, strict compliance with the dress and style code is mandatory, even when working remotely.

This profession is not for everyone. There is not room in this company for everyone. Being here requires a mix of intelligence, knowledge, attitude, attention to detail, verbal, spoken and written skills to deal with clients, the ability to plan and organise your own work and the team's, and a genuine drive for excellence (a vocation for excellence).

At Singular we are building an elite team that can compete as AI and agentic AI arrive, which are changing the world and will bring about a radical change in the way we work. You will see that you will be trained to work in continuous interaction between people and agents.

At Singular we care about people and we look after people. That is why we are demanding of them. We end working relationships when we see a lack of alignment with the culture or values, and we strengthen and develop them when we see that fit.

General Principles

Security is an essential pillar of our work. We do nothing that could pose a security risk. Prudence above all.

We say things clearly and directly, but always with respect and, as far as possible, with kindness. We tell the truth. We avoid beating about the bush. This applies to communication in any direction. Speaking directly and plainly is a sign of respect. What is not respectful is to think one thing, say another and then act covertly.

Authority > power: if someone has a view they believe is better, even if they are an intern who has just arrived, they should try to defend it and insist. In this company good ideas are listened to and valued. Ideas or suggestions cannot always be implemented, but all of them are listened to and valued positively.

Organisation and communication take precedence over execution: paradoxical as it may seem, it is more important to be orderly and aligned (communication, minutes...) than to make progress. Being orderly allows us to understand the situation, mobilise resources and set priorities. Without order, teams cannot be organised, costs soar and teams collapse because attention is divided.

Requests are NOT repeated. If someone asks me for something, it is my responsibility to keep it in mind and manage it actively. It does not matter which direction it comes from (manager or subordinate). When someone says or asks for something, there are several scenarios. At the very moment it is said or asked, it must be actively managed and expectations aligned:

If I can do it and I am going to do it, I confirm and organise myself, write it down, set a reminder and make sure it gets done.

If I am not going to do it, cannot do it or do not have time, I say so clearly and propose a solution.

If I do not have enough information and it needs assessing, I explain this and commit to a date for an answer. I schedule it and give an answer on that date.

Under no circumstances do I say yes and then leave it or forget it. This destroys trust, is a sign of professional immaturity and is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in this company. Such attitudes will be reprimanded. If this happens repeatedly and my colleagues or my managers regularly have to remind me of things, it is a clear sign that I have chosen the wrong profession and company, and it is a good time to look for alternatives. This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and is grounds for dismissal.

If I have doubts, I research and then ask: this is a difficult job, with a steep learning curve. If I do not know something, I research first for 15 to 30 minutes. I can iterate with Claude, check the knowledge base and check the official documentation. If that is not enough, I ask my manager or the person who gave me the task.

When I deal with clients or the team about work I have done or that is my responsibility, I must be clear and specific. General reviews are NOT requested; you must be specific and surgical. If we have followed the methodology correctly, gathered requirements and held follow-up and alignment sessions, the final delivery is just a formality. In other words, iterative and recurring work > final delivery. When I work iteratively, I must give context on what I am doing, how far I can get on my own, what I have researched and which specific matters need support to make a decision. In short, it is about showing autonomy and control, and finding exactly where the other person adds value without offloading the work and the responsibility onto them. As consultants we take pride in our work, we take responsibility for it and we can explain and justify our decisions clearly.

All communication takes place in Odoo, in the relevant task. No excuses.

Every week I must plan my week with the planning module, assigning a percentage of time to each project. As far as possible, I must give enough notice of holidays and absences. Timesheets must be logged every week. Every day I must record my start and finish times in the attendance module.

Every day I must read all my emails, notifications and pending activities and respond, coordinate, delegate or plan. Once I have a clear picture, I prioritise, delegate or ask for help.

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