This handbook is an overview of how we work at White Rabbit. It’s full of tips to help you be successful. As White Rabbit continues to grow, we hope that these ideas will serve each new person joining our ranks. Ultimately, your ideas, talent, and energy will determine White Rabbit’s success in the years ahead, and we are here to support you. Thanks for being here. Let’s do great things.

このハンドブックは、White Rabbit での働き方の概要です。あなたが弊社で活躍するためのヒントがたくさん詰まっています。White Rabbit が成長を続ける中で、ここにある考え方が新しく加わる仲間一人ひとりの助けになることを願っています。最終的に、White Rabbit の成功を決めるのは、あなたのアイデア、才能、そしてエネルギーです。私たちは全力であなたをサポートします。ここにいてくれてありがとう。一緒に素晴らしいことを成し遂げましょう。

Job titles don’t mean a lot at White Rabbit. While useful when interacting with others outside the company (such as when recruiting), many job titles are very general and don’t necessarily say much about the variety of activities the person actually does. We feel taking a job title seriously may blind one to the wealth of potential contributions a person could make.

A single person might work on an email marketing campaign, create a job posting, interview candidates, pick items for shop orders, write a proposal for a product feature, and build furniture for a new hire—all in a single week.

Inside White Rabbit, everyone is a designer. Everyone can question each other’s work. Anyone can be a recruiter. Everyone has to function as a “strategist,” which really means figuring out how to do what’s right for our customers. We all engage in analysis, measurement, forecasting, and evaluations.

White Rabbit では、職務タイトルにはあまり意味がありません。採用活動など、社外の人とやり取りする際には役立ちますが、多くの職務タイトルは非常に一般的であり、その人が実際に行っている幅広い活動を必ずしも表しているわけではありません。職務タイトルを重視しすぎると、その人が持つ多様な可能性や貢献を見落としてしまうかもしれないと私たちは考えています。

一人の人が、メールマーケティングキャンペーンに取り組み、求人票を作成し、候補者と面接し、ショップ注文の商品を選び、製品機能の提案書を書き、新入社員のために家具を組み立てる──そうしたことをすべて1週間のうちに行うこともあります。

White Rabbit の社内では、全員がデザイナーです。誰もが互いの仕事に疑問を投げかけることができます。誰もがリクルーターになれます。全員が「ストラテジスト」として機能しなければなりません。これはつまり、お客様のために正しいことをどう実現するかを考えるということです。私たちは皆、分析、測定、予測、評価に取り組んでいます。

White Rabbit started as a small publishing company. Today we still produce Japanese language products, but we’ve also diversified into various e-commerce services. We’re a proxy-buying service, a package forwarding company, and an online shop. But mostly, we’re a group of passionate people working to build great products and do great things with intense customer focus.

As a bootstrapped company, everything we need to do must contribute to being profitable. Without profit, we can’t sustain our operations. Lack of outside investors allows us to be customer-focused instead of investor-focused.

White Rabbit は小さな出版社としてスタートしました。現在も日本語学習向けの製品を作り続けていますが、事業を多角化し、さまざまな eコマースサービスを展開しています。私たちは購入代行サービス会社であり、転送サービス会社であり、オンラインショップでもあります。けれども一番大切なのは、情熱を持った仲間が集まり、優れた製品を作り、お客様に徹底的に寄り添いながら素晴らしいことを成し遂げようとしているチームだということです。

私たちはブートストラップ（自己資金）で運営している会社なので、取り組むすべてのことが利益につながらなければなりません。利益がなければ事業を継続することはできません。外部投資家がいないことで、投資家ではなくお客様に集中することができています。

Products and Services / 製品とサービス

Japan Rabbit — japanrabbit.com A Tokyo-based proxy buying service. We make it simple and easy to buy and ship from Japan. 東京を拠点とした代理購入サービスで、日本からの購入や発送を簡単かつスムーズに行えます。

Blackship — blackship.com A Japan-based package forwarding service. 日本を拠点とする転送サービス。

OMG Japan — omgjapan.com An online shop mostly for Japanese language learning items, and an eclectic assortment of office supplies, snacks, interior, and other lifestyle products. 主に日本語学習アイテムを扱うオンラインショップ。文房具、スナック、インテリア、その他ライフスタイル製品も幅広く取り揃えています。

White Rabbit Press — whiterabbitpress.com Publisher of beloved products for Japanese language learners, including kanji and kana flashcards, posters, and a series of Japanese Graded Readers. 日本語学習者に愛される製品を出版。漢字やかなのフラッシュカード、ポスター、多読リーダーシリーズ。

Japanese Graded Readers — japanesegradedreaders.com Graded readers especially written for Japanese language learners using a limited set of grammar and vocabulary. 日本語学習者向けに特別に書かれた多読リーダー。

Office Hours / オフィスアワー

Our Yokohama office hours are officially 10:00 to 19:00, Monday through Saturday, except national holidays. Talk to your manager if you need flexibility.

横浜倉庫の営業時間は、月曜日から土曜日（祝日を除く）の 10:00〜19:00 です。

Office Address

• 1-2-4 ORTO YOKOHAMA BUSINESS CENTER 4F, SHINKOYASU, KANAGAWA WARD, YOKOHAMA, KANAGAWA, 221-0013 JAPAN
• 〒 221-0013 神奈川県横浜市神奈川区新子安1-2-4オルトヨコハマビジネスセンター4階
• Tel: 045-225-9061

Our goal is to inspire people more than manage them. We trust our teams to do what they think is best for White Rabbit — giving them lots of freedom, power, and information in support of their decisions. In turn, this generates a sense of responsibility and self-discipline that drives us to do great work that benefits the company.

As a hybrid-remote organization, we want each team member to be a manager of one.

A manager of one is someone who comes up with their own goals and executes them. They don’t need heavy direction. They don’t need daily check-ins. They do what a manager would do — set the tone, assign items, determine what needs to get done, etc. — but they do it by themselves and for themselves.

These people free you from oversight. They set their own direction. When you leave them alone, they surprise you with how much they’ve gotten done. They don’t need a lot of handholding or supervision.

How can you spot these people? Look at their history. Have they been self-sufficient at previous jobs? Have they defined their own role before? Have they started their own site/company before? Or done their own thing in some other way? Find someone with initiative and a budding entrepreneurial spirit. And then nurture it.

You want someone who’s capable of building something from scratch and seeing it through. When you find these people, it frees up the rest of your team to work more and manage less.

—excerpt from Hire managers of one, 2008, Basecamp blog

No matter what role you serve, self-leadership is an essential skill needed to be successful as a manager of one.

To avoid the rigidity of over-specialization, and avoid the chaos of growth, while retaining freedom, we work to have as simple a business as we can given our growth ambitions, and to keep employee excellence rising. We work to have a company of self-disciplined people who discover and fix issues without being told to do so.

We are dedicated to increasing employee freedom to fight the python of process. Some examples of how we operate with unusual amounts of freedom:

• We share information, data, and documents internally broadly and systematically. Nearly every document is fully open for anyone to read and comment on.
• Buyers and Customer Service team members don’t need approval to make decisions, including refunding money. Each employee is expected to seek advice and perspective as appropriate. “Use good judgment” is our core precept.

We do not seek to merely preserve our culture — we seek to improve it. Every person who joins us helps to shape and evolve the culture further.

私たちの目標は、人を「管理する」ことではなく「刺激する」ことです。White Rabbit にとって最善だと信じることを各チームが実行できるように、自由・権限・情報を惜しみなく提供しています。その結果として、責任感と自己規律が育まれ、会社にとって有益な素晴らしい仕事が生まれます。

ハイブリッド・リモート組織である私たちは、チームメンバー一人ひとりが “ワンマネージャー（manager of one）” であることを望んでいます。

ワンマネージャーとは、自分自身で目標を立て、それを実行する人です。細かい指示は必要としません。日々のチェックインも必要としません。マネージャーがするようなこと──方向性を示し、タスクを割り当て、やるべきことを決める──を、自分自身のために自分で行います。

彼らは監督からあなたを解放してくれます。自分の進む道を決め、放っておいても驚くほどの成果をあげます。手取り足取りのサポートや監視を必要としません。

—引用：Hire managers of one, 2008, Basecamp blog

We believe companies that “out-behave” their competition will also outperform them. Our aim is to create a “self-governing organization”—a team that doesn’t merely do the next thing right but does the next right thing. We hope to foster this kind of organization by replacing rules with shared principles and a common sense of purpose.

We want to work with people that embody these seven values.

Values at White Rabbit aren’t empty words. They define the behaviors that determine who gets hired, who gets promoted, and who gets let go.

私たちは「競合よりも良い行動」をとる会社は、「競合よりも良い成果」も上げられると信じています。私たちの目標は「自律的な組織」をつくることです。このような組織を育むために、私たちはルールではなく、共通の原則と共通の目的意識で行動を導きたいと考えています。

White Rabbit における価値観は、空虚なスローガンではありません。それは、誰を採用し、誰を昇進させ、誰を手放すのかを決定する「行動の基準」を定義しています。

Valued Behaviors / 大切にする行動

Impact / インパクト

• You accomplish amazing amounts of important work.
• You work iteratively, separating what must be done well now, and what can be improved later.
• We value effectiveness, not effort.
• 重要な仕事を驚くほど多く成し遂げます。私たちが重視するのは「労力」ではなく「成果」です。

Curiosity / 好奇心

• You are a lifelong learner, unafraid to tackle new challenges and learn new things.
• 生涯学び続ける姿勢を持ち、新しい挑戦や新しい知識を恐れずに取り組みます。

Collaboration / 協働

• You are a team-oriented person and thrive when you work together and support each other.
• You believe that collaboration leads to your best work.
• チーム志向であり、共に働き支え合うことで力を発揮します。

Customer Focus / 顧客志向

• You care deeply about solving customer pain in everything you do.
• あなたの行うすべてのことにおいて、お客様の課題解決を何よりも大切にします。

Ownership / オーナーシップ

• You take ownership of your projects and are accountable for your actions.
• You learn from your mistakes and strive to improve.
• 自分のプロジェクトに責任を持ち、自らの行動に対して説明責任を果たします。

Candor / 率直さ

• You value candor and honesty, even when it’s tough.
• You avoid sugarcoating or hiding your opinions or experiences.
• You respect those who speak candidly, even if you don’t always agree with them.
• 困難な状況であっても、率直さと誠実さを重んじます。

Transparency / 透明性

• You believe in openness and transparency, which infuses our team with valuable context needed to make better decisions.
• You default to public conversation.
• You seek alternate perspectives to improve your ideas.
• オープンさと透明性を信じ、それによってチームがより良い判断をするために必要な背景情報を共有します。

White Rabbit must grow better

Innovation is an economic term; not a technological term. It could be improving a business process, improving how we explain our pricing, improving our interview process, or organizing shipping materials in a better way.

Innovation extends across all departments, all processes, all functions. Management guru Peter Drucker defined innovation as “the task of empowering human and material resources with new and greater wealth-producing capacity.”

Say What You Really Think (with Positive Intent)

Offer feedback anytime, anywhere

Most people are reluctant to give constructive criticism to their colleagues — especially their bosses. Even if their feedback is well-intentioned, people worry about coming across as harsh. Netflix thinks about this differently.

As long as feedback is given with positive intent (aiming to help the recipient) and provides an alternative solution (focusing on what the recipient can do differently), feedback can — and should — be given anytime, anywhere.

In return, the recipient needs only to show appreciation for the feedback; they aren’t required to apply it.

At Netflix, it is tantamount to being disloyal to the company if you fail to speak up when you disagree with a colleague or have feedback that could be helpful. —Erin Meyer, No Rules Rules

Giving Feedback / フィードバックの伝え方

1. Aim to assist / 助けることを目的にする

Feedback must be given with positive intent. Clearly explain how a specific behavior change will help the individual or the company.

2. Actionable / 行動につながるものにする

Feedback must suggest what the recipient could do differently.

3. Appreciate / 感謝を示す

When receiving feedback, show appreciation regardless of whether you agree.

4. Accept or discard / 受け入れるか捨てるかを選ぶ

You are not obligated to implement every piece of feedback you receive.

Receiving Feedback / フィードバックの受け取り方

1. Appreciate / 感謝する

When someone gives you feedback, start by simply thanking them.

2. Consider / じっくり考える

Take time to reflect on the feedback before deciding whether to act on it.

3. Respond / 答える

Let the feedback-giver know what you intend to do with their feedback.

フィードバックは、前向きな意図（相手の役に立つことを目的とする）を持ち、代替案を提示するもの（相手が「何を違うやり方でできるか」に焦点を当てる）である限り、いつでも、どこでも行うことができますし、行うべきです。

その一方で、フィードバックを受け取る側に求められるのは感謝を示すことだけであり、それを必ずしも実行する必要はありません。

• Be open about as many things as possible. Being open and honest improves team communication and trust.
• Share early in the decision process to avoid “big revelations.” The more context people have, the better their decision making.
• We strive to communicate clearly and avoid making assumptions.
• Communicating publicly reduces barriers to contribution and makes collaboration easier.

We aim to make nearly everything at White Rabbit open to internal staff by default — from financial information and operational metrics to job descriptions and work procedures. If there’s something you want to know but don’t have access to, just ask.

Making this company handbook public is an example of the kind of transparency we value. This kind of open transparency helps us recruit people that care about our values and allows us to get more feedback from people outside the company.

Communicate Publicly

Use public channels and shared folders whenever possible. Direct messages on Slack are useful for discussing sensitive issues or coordination that would otherwise spam other employees. However, to build a culture of belonging and inclusion, the rest of company communication should take place in public channels so that issues are surfaced and everyone relevant can give their input.

Direct messages discourage collaboration. Sometimes halfway into a conversation, it becomes clear that another person should join in, but they can’t easily see the conversation history when chats begin as direct messages. Use a public channel and mention the person or group you want to reach.

Directness

Being direct is about being transparent with each other. We practice “radical candor” — an uncommon cocktail of no-bullshit and no-asshole. Feedback is always about your work and not your person.

Surface Issues Constructively

Be transparent to the right people at the right time (when still actionable). If you make a mistake, don’t worry; correct it and proactively let the affected party, your team, or manager know what happened, how you corrected it, and how you changed the process to prevent future mistakes.

Anyone and Anything Can Be Questioned

Any past decisions and guidelines are open to questioning as long as you act in accordance with them until they are changed.

できる限り多くのことをオープンにしましょう。オープンで誠実であることは、チーム内のコミュニケーションと信頼を高めます。決定プロセスの早い段階で共有し、「大きなサプライズ」を避けましょう。

White Rabbit では、財務情報や業務指標から職務記述書や業務手順に至るまで、ほとんどすべてを社内スタッフにデフォルトでオープンにすることを目指しています。

Below, you’ll find a collection of general principles we try to keep in mind at White Rabbit when communicating with teammates across the company and the public. Our communication style may be challenging at first if you come from a workplace where frequent meetings are the norm. While these ideas aren’t strict requirements, they serve as shared practices to draw upon when we do the one thing that affects everything else we do: communicate.

• Real-time sometimes; asynchronous most of the time.
• Internal communication based on long-form writing, rather than a verbal tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting, leads to a welcomed reduction in meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt and be interrupted.
• Give meaningful discussions a meaningful amount of time to develop and unfold. Rushing to judgment or demanding immediate responses increases the odds of poor decision-making.
• Never expect or require someone to get back to you immediately unless it’s a true emergency. The expectation of an immediate response is toxic.
• Poor communication creates more work.
• Ask yourself if others will feel compelled to rush their response if you rush your approach. If you aren’t sure, sleep on it before saying it.
• If you want an answer, you have to ask a question. Questioning others, early and often, helps people practice sharing, writing, and communicating.
• Urgency is overrated; ASAP is poison. Time is on your side, rushing makes conversations worse.
• Communication is lossy, especially verbal communication. Every hearsay hop adds static and chips at fidelity. Whenever possible, communicate directly with those you’re addressing rather than passing the message through intermediaries.
• Ask if things are clear. Ask what you left out. Address the gaps before they widen with time.
• Good communication is often about saying the right thing at the right time in the right way with the fewest side effects.

リアルタイムでやり取りするのは時々。ほとんどは非同期で。

社内コミュニケーションは 長文の文章による伝達 を基本とし、会議・口頭でのやり取り・チャットに依存する文化ではありません。

緊急時を除き、即座の返信を期待したり求めたりしないでください。即答を前提にする文化は有害です。

「緊急性」は過大評価されがちです。ASAP は毒です。時間はあなたの味方であり、急ぐことは会話を悪化させます。

Our team uses Slack internally for instant messaging. It allows us to contact members and have them reply asynchronously.

私たちのチームは、社内でのインスタントメッセージに Slack を使用しています。

Guide to White Rabbit’s Slack Channels

General Channels

• #random — Post random things you find of interest (work or non-work related!)
• #recruiting — Discussion about recruiting topics, scheduling interviews, discussing candidates and roles
• #jpr-buying — JPR Purchasing topics; the daily ops channel for Buyers
• #buying-bots — RPA (Robotic Process Automation) notifications for purchasing robots (“Rabots”)
• #praise — Share your appreciation for your colleagues 💞

PRAISE BETTER Great praise includes: What did they do? Why does it matter? How does it make you feel?

Engineering / Product Channels

eng is the prefix for engineering/product channels, used by Engineering, Product, and Ops Teams. For example:

• #jpr-eng — Japan Rabbit engineering topics
• #blk-eng — Blackship engineering topics
• #blk-ops — Blackship operations topics

Slack Etiquette

Prefer public channels over DMs. Direct messages should be reserved for sensitive topics or quick coordination. Most conversations should happen in public so the whole team can learn and contribute.

Use threads. When responding to a message, use threads to keep channels clean and organized.

Mute irrelevant channels. You’re not expected to read every channel. Mute channels that don’t apply to your work.

Emoji reactions are powerful. Common reactions:

• 👀 — I’m looking at this
• ✅ — Done / acknowledged
• 🙏 — Thank you
• 💯 — Agreed / great
• 🎉 — Celebration

Avoid urgency signals. Don’t use @channel or @here unless it’s genuinely urgent. Respect that others may be in deep work.

Slack の使い方について：公開チャンネルを優先し、DM は機微な話題や簡単な調整に限定してください。多くの会話は公開チャンネルで行い、チーム全体が学び、参加できるようにしてください。

Real-time sometimes; asynchronous most of the time.

Meetings Should Be a Last Resort

Before scheduling a meeting, ask: Could this be a Slack message? A short document? A quick walk to someone’s desk? If yes, do that instead.

People’s time is highly valuable. Five people in a room for an hour isn’t a one-hour meeting — it’s a five-hour meeting. Be mindful of the tradeoffs.

We prefer focused collaboration between small groups — usually just two or three people. If you need input from more than three people, a written pitch or Slack thread is almost always better.

ミーティングを設定する前に自問してください：Slackで済むか？ドキュメントで済むか？直接話せば済むか？ 答えが「はい」なら、そちらを選んでください。

How to Run a Meeting

1. 15 minutes by default. If you need longer, take longer — but most meetings don’t.
2. No spectators. Everyone should have a reason to be there. If you don’t, decline the invite.
3. Start with a purpose. State it upfront. Share a preread or agenda beforehand so people come prepared.
4. Be present. In person: close laptops, put phones away. Virtual: close unrelated tabs, mute notifications. Your attention is the reason you’re in the room.
5. End with a written record. Decisions made, tasks assigned, owners identified — posted to the relevant Slack channel or document. If a meeting produces no written output, it probably didn’t need to happen. (See Section 15: Single Source of Truth.)

Everyone is responsible for enforcing these rules — regardless of whether it was your meeting or not.

すべてのミーティングは書面による記録で終わるべきです：決定事項、タスク、担当者。書面の成果物がなければ、そのミーティングはおそらく不要でした。

One-on-One Meetings

Scheduled weekly with your manager. Typically 30–60 minutes.

The one-on-one is the subordinate’s meeting — you set the agenda and tone.

• Prepare an outline in advance
• Focus on no more than three things you need to discuss or need action on
• Prioritize potential problems and things that are bothering you — don’t just give status updates
• Your manager’s job is to listen, ask questions, and remove obstacles

1on1は 部下のミーティング です。事前にアウトラインを準備し、本当に必要な3つ以内の事項に絞ってください。

The best meeting is the one that didn’t need to happen. The second best is the one that was over in fifteen minutes with a clear decision posted to Slack.

Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others — that is too high a price to pay. —Robert Greene

Employee gossip in the workplace is a common issue despite having no real positive effect. In the worst case, a small group of workplace gossipers can seriously impede a company’s morale, erode trust, and drive good people out.

職場でのゴシップは、実質的なプラスの効果がないにもかかわらず、よく見られる問題です。最悪の場合、少数のゴシップが会社全体の士気を著しく低下させ、信頼を損ない、優秀な人材を追い出すことにもなりかねません。

Dangers of Gossip

• Erosion of trust and morale
• Lost productivity and wasted time
• Increased anxiety among employees as rumors circulate
• Divisiveness among employees as people take sides
• Hurt feelings and damaged reputations
• Attrition due to good employees leaving because of an unhealthy work environment

What Is Gossip?

A few test questions:

1. Does the chitchat rejoice in the misfortune of others? — Gossip.
2. Does it have a negative emotional charge or perpetuate conflict or negativity? — Gossip.
3. Does it hurt or damage the one being spoken of? Would you say it in front of this person’s face?
4. Is it an unsubstantiated rumor about another employee’s work situation? — Gossip.
5. Are you recruiting uninvolved people into a conflict or complaint that doesn’t concern them? — Gossip.

Gossip vs. Legitimate Concerns

Not every conversation about a colleague is gossip. The difference is direction: a legitimate concern goes up or across to someone who can act on it; gossip goes sideways to people who can’t.

If you have a concern about a colleague’s performance, conduct, or a workplace situation, raise it with your manager or through the grievance process (see Section 24: Expectations for Handling Grievances and HR Investigations). Talking about it with uninvolved coworkers doesn’t solve the problem — it creates new ones.

すべての同僚に関する会話がゴシップというわけではありません。違いは 方向性 にあります。正当な懸念は、対処できる人（上司やマネージャー）に向かいます。ゴシップは、対処できない人に向かいます。同僚のパフォーマンスや行動に懸念がある場合は、マネージャーまたは苦情処理プロセス（セクション24参照）を通じて報告してください。関係のない同僚に話しても、問題は解決せず、新たな問題を生むだけです。

What We Expect from You

Employees are expected to:

• Refrain from spreading unverified information about colleagues, including speculation about others’ employment status, performance issues, compensation, or personal matters.
• Not recruit others into interpersonal conflicts. If you have a disagreement with a colleague, resolve it directly with them or escalate through your manager — don’t build a coalition.
• Redirect gossip when you encounter it. If someone brings gossip to you, a simple response is: “That sounds like something you should raise with your manager directly.” You are not obligated to be someone’s audience.
• Use public channels for work discussions. As outlined in Sections 7 and 9, we default to transparency. Private messages and side conversations can become vectors for gossip. The same standards of conduct apply regardless of medium — Slack DMs, LINE messages, private group chats, or hallway conversations.

従業員に期待されること：同僚に関する未確認の情報を広めないこと。対人関係の問題に他者を巻き込まないこと。ゴシップに遭遇した場合はリダイレクトすること（「それはマネージャーに直接相談した方がいいと思いますよ」）。業務に関する議論は公開チャンネルで行うこと。

Dealing with Gossip

If you hear gossip

1. Redirect. Encourage the person to take their concern to someone who can act on it: their manager, or the grievance process. This is the single most effective thing you can do.
2. Don’t engage. Gossipmongers thrive on an audience. Make yourself unavailable for the conversation. You don’t need to be confrontational — simply declining to participate is enough.
3. Report it. If gossip is persistent, growing, or recruiting followers, inform your manager. Patterns matter, and leadership can’t address what they don’t know about.

If you’re tempted to gossip

1. Ask yourself: can this person do anything about it? If not, you’re venting to the wrong person.
2. Go direct. Talk to the person involved, or talk to your manager. Both are harder than complaining to a coworker, and both are more likely to actually fix the problem.
3. Write it down. If you’re unsure whether your concern is legitimate or just frustration, write it up. Writing forces clarity. If you can articulate a specific problem and a desired outcome, bring it to your manager. If you can’t, it may just be venting — and that’s what friends outside work are for.

ゴシップを聞いたら：リダイレクトする、関わらない、報告する。ゴシップをしたくなったら：その人が対処できるか自問する、直接話す、書き出して整理する。

Consequences

Gossip that disrupts team cohesion, damages colleagues’ reputations, or undermines trust in the workplace is a violation of our culture values — specifically Collaboration, Candor, and Transparency.

Persistent gossip may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination. As stated in Section 5: Values at White Rabbit aren’t empty words. They define the behaviors that determine who gets hired, who gets promoted, and who gets let go.

チームの結束を乱し、同僚の評判を傷つけ、職場の信頼を損なうゴシップは、私たちの文化的価値観（特に「協働」「率直さ」「透明性」）に対する違反です。継続的なゴシップは、解雇を含む懲戒処分の対象となる場合があります。

Courage: You question actions inconsistent with our values. Everyone is responsible for enforcing our culture values.

職場でのゴシップは一般的な問題ですが、職場にプラスの効果をもたらすことはありません。

ゴシップへの対応：リダイレクトする、関わらない、報告する。全員が私たちの文化的価値観を守る責任を持っています。

At some companies, decisions are made by the senior person in charge and implemented top-down. We discourage this kind of decision making at White Rabbit and give employees an unusual level of freedom with the aim of speeding up the decision-making process and bringing fresh ideas to the process.

Do what’s best for the company.

In order to do what’s best for the company, decision-making should not be made in isolation. We should make decisions as a team, with individual team members attempting to influence each other using rational persuasion and data. Gut feeling should have little impact on how decisions are made.

Decision-Making Process

• Leaders should identify the person closest to the situation and let them make the decision.
• Decision makers must ask for advice when making material decisions. They are expected to gather information and seek advice from peers, managers, or someone outside the organization.

Choosing a Decision-Maker

Start by looking at who is close to the issue, who is well acquainted with the context and details, and who understands the big picture. Then consider their perspective, experience, and wisdom.

The Advice Process

The Decision Maker makes the final call but must ask for advice. Look for these qualities in people to seek advice from:

• Experience — Has this person had experience with circumstances similar to the decision being made?
• Position — People in different positions see things differently. Seek a leader, a peer, or someone below in hierarchy — and even, if circumstances allow, someone outside the company.
• Skipping the advice process when making material decisions is tantamount to being disloyal to the company.

Reversible vs Irreversible Decisions

Inspired by Jeff Bezos:

1. Type 1 decisions are consequential and irreversible — treat them with great care.
2. Type 2 decisions are changeable and reversible — make them quickly by whoever is most qualified.

Don’t wait for all the information. Most decisions should probably be made with around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, you’re being slow.

Disagree and commit. Don’t let one person’s objection create a deadlock. Commit to the decision even when you disagree, and see it through.

多くの会社では、意思決定は上層部の責任者が行い、トップダウンで実行されます。White Rabbit ではそのような意思決定を推奨せず、社員に通常よりも大きな自由を与えることで、意思決定の スピードを上げ、プロセスに 新しいアイデア を取り入れることを目指しています。

Embracing Small Iterations

At the core of our work philosophy lies the commitment to small iterations. Instead of undertaking large-scale overhauls, focus on making incremental improvements one step at a time. By keeping the iterations short, we can gather feedback quickly and deliver value at a faster pace.

Small iterations offer the following benefits:

• Quicker feedback from stakeholders
• Reduced cycle time for delivering value
• Continuous improvements

Adopting Minimum Viable Change (MVC)

Strive to implement the swiftest change possible that enhances the outcome. Don’t wait for a polished solution; if your idea is an improvement, act on it.

Take small steps and deliver quickly. When proposing changes that aren’t essential for the first iteration, create a separate issue for them. Avoid drafting extensive plans; focus on outlining the initial step.

The term “viable” is key here, as it emphasizes that changes should be sustainable and advantageous in the long run.

You’ll know you’re on the right track if the minimal feature set in the first iteration feels slightly unpolished. This value is often underestimated by newcomers to our team. The impact of making quick decisions and embracing change with limited consultation is more profound than expected. More often than not, the simplest version proves to be the most effective.

私たちの仕事の哲学の核心には「小さな反復」へのこだわりがあります。大規模な改革に取り組むのではなく、一歩ずつの漸進的な改善 に集中します。

成果を高めるために最も迅速な変更を実装することを目指しましょう。完成された解決策を待つ必要はありません。もしアイデアが改善につながるなら、すぐに行動してください。

Creating value for customers is at the heart of what we do. The following ideas aim at improving the velocity at which we can add value to our product and processes. While originally drafted for engineering teams, we believe most of the ideas work just as well when applied to non-technical roles.

Fix Problems While They’re Small

A common rule we should always try to heed: detect and fix any problem at the lowest-value stage possible.

Efficiency

We care about working on the right things, not doing more than needed, and not duplicating work.

• Boring solutions. Use the most simple and boring solution for a problem. You can always make it more complex later if needed. The speed of innovation for our organization is constrained by the total complexity we have added so far.
• Be respectful of others’ time. Consider the time investment you are asking others to make with meetings and approval processes. Try to avoid meetings, and if one is needed, make attendance optional with a clear agenda and document the outcome.
• Spend company money like it’s your own. Every dollar we spend will have to be earned back.
• Frugality. Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention.
• Short verbal answers. Give short answers to verbal questions so the other party has the opportunity to ask more or move on.
• Keep broadcasts short and concise. 81% of businesspeople say what they read is frequently ineffective because it’s too long, poorly organized, unclear, filled with jargon, and imprecise.
• Responsibility over rigidity. When possible, give people the responsibility to make a decision and hold them accountable instead of imposing rules and approval processes.
• Accept mistakes. Not every problem should lead to a new process to prevent them. Additional process makes all actions more inefficient; a mistake only affects one.

Write a Pitch

Whenever you feel compelled to call a meeting, consider writing a pitch instead. A written pitch will be a much more effective use of everyone’s time.

The concrete is still wet. Everything is in “draft” at White Rabbit and subject to change, though we rarely put “draft” on any content.

Collaboration

• Helping others is a priority, even when it is not related to the goals that you are trying to achieve.
• Say thanks. Recognize the people that helped you publicly, for example in our #praise channel. Give recognition generously, in the open, and often.
• If you make a mistake, own it. Acknowledge it and fix it. Ask for help if needed. Hiding mistakes is unacceptable.

Managing Conflict

When there is conflict, manage it. Constructive debate is an effective way to quickly get to the heart of a matter. People are expected to stop fighting each other and to search for the right answer together. Join arms and attack the problem instead.

When searching for the best answer, fight like you’re right; listen like you’re wrong.

A good team player disagrees openly. We only unlock the benefits of cognitive and demographic diversity if people speak their mind. — Todd Kashdan

顧客に価値を提供することが、私たちの仕事の核心です。

問題は小さいうちに直す。効率的に働く。ピッチを書く。コラボレーションする。コンフリクトを管理する。これらが私たちの働き方の基本です。

“A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.” — Segal’s Law

Single source of truth (SSoT) is a practice that ensures everyone in an organization bases business decisions on the same data.

A single source of truth guarantees that everyone in an organization has access to the same information. That means there are no work silos keeping people from knowing important information. Working from a single version of the truth ensures nothing will be concealed from anyone and you’ll all be on the same wavelength. This results in:

• Reducing duplicate effort (creating, organizing, and correcting information)
• Reducing the time spent on identifying which information is correct
• Helping decision-makers find the right information, faster

Designate a SSoT for Your Team

To practice SSoT, designate your SSoT and communicate it to the team. It can be as simple as creating a folder for brand assets, a Notion document for team OKRs, or a spreadsheet for payroll data. The tools matter less than the team-wide agreement to maintain a single, canonical source for a given task or project.

Maintain the SSoT

Teach everyone how to contribute to the single source of truth, no exceptions. Require regular contributions from everyone to ensure accuracy.

Manage Multiple Copies Smartly

When maintaining multiple copies of information, edits should flow down from the SSoT. For example, maintain a single “master” logo file in a non-lossy format which is used to generate all other derived files. Designate the canonical source and update derived copies accordingly.

True Source of Truth（SSoT：真実の唯一の拠り所） とは、組織内の全員が同じデータに基づいてビジネス判断を行えるようにする取り組みです。

チームの SSoT を決め、全員に周知してください。重要なのは、チーム全体で「この情報が唯一の正規版である」と合意して維持することです。

Many people take the situation at their organization as a given, and fail to proactively engage with their new boss to shape the game in their favor. There is much you can do to build a positive working relationship with your new boss and you should start doing it as soon as you’re being considered for a new role.

Invest in the relationship with your boss. Your boss sets your benchmarks, interprets your actions for other key players, and controls access to resources you need.

Don’t isolate yourself. Get on your boss’s calendar regularly. Be sure your boss is aware of the issues you face and you are aware of their expectations.

Don’t bring only problems. Bring pitches; at least come up with a pitch on how to begin addressing issues.

Focus on a few key issues. Don’t run through everything you’ve been doing. Cut it down to no more than three things you really need to share or need action on.

Revisit expectations. Confirm and clarify expectations early and often.

Take 100% responsibility for the relationship with your boss. It’s best to assume it’s on your shoulders to make the relationship work.

Negotiate timelines. Buy yourself the time needed to diagnose issues and come up with an action plan. Figure out what your boss cares about most and aim for early wins in those areas.

Leading Up the Chain of Command

Adapted from Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

One of the most important jobs of any leader is to support your own boss — your immediate leadership. Leadership doesn’t just flow down the chain of command, but up as well. Instead of blaming others and complaining about decisions from above, take ownership of your problems and lead — this includes leading up the chain of command. If your supervisor isn’t making decisions in a timely manner, don’t blame your boss. First, blame yourself. Examine what you can do to better convey the critical information for decisions to be made and support to be allocated.

Four Conversations to Have with Your Boss

1. Situational Conversation

Diagnose the current situation. How did the organization get here? What are the challenges? Your view may differ from your boss’s, but it is essential to grasp how they see the situation.

2. Expectations Conversation

What does your boss need you to do in the short and medium term? How is success defined? How is performance measured?

• Agree on short-term and long-term goals and timing
• Closely align expectations with your diagnosis of the situation
• Bias yourself to under-promise achievements and over-deliver results

3. Style Conversation

Your agenda is to determine how you and your boss can work best together. Adapt to your boss’s style, not the other way around.

4. Resource Conversation

Make the case for the resources you need to accomplish your goals.

多くの人は、組織の状況を所与のものとして受け入れ、新しい上司と積極的に関わることを怠ります。上司との良好な関係を築くことは、あなたが新しい役割を検討されている段階から始めるべきです。

Inspired and adapted from Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Don’t think of marketing as someone else’s job. Accounting is a department. Marketing isn’t. Marketing is something everyone at our company is doing all of the time.

You cannot not market:

• Every time we answer the phone, it’s marketing.
• Every time we send an e-mail, it’s marketing.
• Every time someone uses our product, it’s marketing.
• Every word we write on our web site is marketing.
• Every notification and error message in our software is marketing.
• How we pack the packages we ship is marketing.
• The order confirmation emails we send are marketing.

Recognize that all of these things are more important than what we post once in a while to Twitter or Facebook. Marketing isn’t just a few individual actions; it’s the sum total of everything we do.

マーケティングを「他の誰かの仕事」だと考えてはいけません。経理は部門ですが、マーケティングは違います。マーケティングは、会社の全員が、常に行っていることなのです。

マーケティングは個々の行為の寄せ集めではなく、私たちのあらゆる行動の総和なのです。

Excellence in management is at the core of every great company, but managers can’t do it alone. At White Rabbit, we view management as a collective activity. Management isn’t just what managers do; it’s what we all do.

We focus on designing the organization to give employees a great amount of freedom and responsibility to exhibit self-managed behaviors. Specifically, we attempt to manage by context, not control.

Leaders at White Rabbit rarely pull out their authority card. If leaders appear to take too much control, then the organization will stop behaving in a self-managed manner. Our leaders almost exclusively depend on feedback, communication, relationships, and influence.

The move-by-move control that seemed natural to military operations proved less effective than nurturing the organization — its structure, processes, and culture — to enable the subordinate components to function with “smart autonomy.” —General McChrystal, Team of Teams

General Principles and Practices

• Set requirements and expectations upfront and give people the responsibility to meet them.
• Avoid creating too much process. If responsibilities are clear, the process will emerge from the interactions of the collaborators.
• Teach everyone how to contribute to the single source of truth, no exceptions.
• Always iterate on your processes, but avoid “meta work” (overhead and people management) as much as possible.
• Reviewing (micro-managing) work in progress is a waste of time. Instead, team members are encouraged to seek feedback early when there are doubts about the feasibility, functionality, scope, or outline of a deliverable.

Investing in Context

We believe high performance people will do better work when they understand the context. Managers at White Rabbit are encouraged to use communication and influence, over command and control.

Context over Control

By creating an environment of transparency around decision-making and providing as much relevant context as possible, managers empower their direct reports with tremendous authority to make their own decisions.

Task-Relevant Maturity

Adjust management style based on employee skill level:

• Low task-relevant maturity — Provide structured, detailed instructions
• Medium task-relevant maturity — Discussion and support, less directive
• High task-relevant maturity — Hands-off management, set objectives only

Hiring

The most important thing you can do for our company is to hire people who will be assets. Ask yourself: could this person run the company? Could you replace yourself with this person?

優れたマネジメントは、すべての優れた会社の核心です。しかし、マネージャーだけでは実現できません。White Rabbit では、マネジメントを集団的な活動として捉えています。マネジメントは、マネージャーだけがするものではなく、全員がするものです。

私たちは「管理」ではなく「文脈」によってマネジメントすることを目指しています。

Since the majority of White Rabbit employees work in Japan, this section is written with that as the default. Some benefits don’t make sense in other countries. We will try our best to provide comparable benefits and perks outside Japan as it makes sense.

White Rabbit の従業員の多くは日本で勤務しているため、本セクションは日本の制度を前提としています。

Benefits / 福利厚生

Pension and National Health Care / 年金・健康保険

Enrollment in Japan’s social welfare and national healthcare programs (50% company paid).

日本の社会保険および国民健康保険に加入します（会社負担 50%）。

Commuting Allowance / 通勤手当

Commuting allowance is paid in the amount equivalent to the actual cost required for commuting, up to a maximum of ¥26,000 per month, or ¥4,000 monthly for bicycle commuting.

実費を上限 月額26,000円 まで支給します。自転車通勤の場合は 月額4,000円 を支給します。

Paid Time Off / 有給休暇

After your first six months, you’ll receive 10 days of paid vacation plus a few extra personal days. In subsequent years, you’ll receive an extra day of paid vacation per year, up to 20 days at 6.5 years of employment.

We don’t track sick days. If you’re under the weather, take the time you need to feel better. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Take a mental health day when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

入社から6か月が経過すると、10日間の有給休暇に加えてパーソナルデーが付与されます。その後、勤続年数に応じて最大 20日 まで増加します。病気休暇については記録していません。

Bereavement Leave / 忌引き休暇

• Close family members: 10 days
• Extended family or close friends: 3 days

Employee Liquidity Pool (ELP) / 従業員流動性プール

If White Rabbit Japan is sold or goes public, 10% of the transaction value is distributed as a cash bonus to eligible employees. Your share depends on how long you’ve been with us.

The ELP is a contractual cash bonus program, not actual equity. “Shares” are a calculation method for determining your bonus amount — you don’t own stock in the company.

How it works

• Shares accrue monthly from your first day.
• Your first 24 months of accrual vest at your 2-year anniversary.
• After that, shares continue accruing monthly up to a 10-year maximum.

Eligibility

You must be a full-time employee in good standing on the date of the liquidity event to receive a payout. If you’ve left the company for any reason before that date — resignation, termination, retirement, anything — you receive nothing, regardless of accrued or vested shares.

“Good standing” means no pending disciplinary action, employment dispute, or termination-for-cause notice. If something is pending at the time of the event, payout is delayed until it’s resolved.

Other notes

White Rabbit Japan may adjust ELP terms before a liquidity event, but we’ll preserve the spirit of rewarding long-term employees.

Perks / その他の特典

Computer Setup

• Apple or Windows computer of your choice
• Dual monitors

Personal Development Stipend / 自己啓発手当

¥72,000 per year for books, courses, conferences, or other professional development.

年間 72,000円 を書籍、コース、カンファレンスなどの自己啓発に充てることができます。

Home Office Setup / ホームオフィス設備

For remote workers: ¥100,000 every 3 years for home office setup.

リモートワーカー向け：3年ごとに 100,000円 のホームオフィス設備費用を支給します。

Co-working Space Stipend

Up to ¥20,000 per month for co-working space.

At White Rabbit, we believe in keeping things simple: do what’s best for our company and our customers. As a company operating in Japan, we maintain comprehensive work rules (就業規則) in compliance with labor regulations. These rules cover essential aspects of employment including:

• Employment Terms — Conditions of employment, probationary periods, and documentation requirements
• Working Hours & Flexibility — Standard 40-hour work week, flextime options, and discretionary work arrangements
• Leave & Time Off — Annual paid leave, special leave for life events, maternity leave, and other types of leave
• Compensation — Salary structure, overtime allowances, commuting allowances, and bonus policies
• Professional Conduct — Confidentiality obligations, intellectual property rules, and workplace behavior standards
• Health & Safety — Regular health checkups, workplace safety measures, and accident compensation
• Termination — Rules regarding resignation, retirement, and conditions for dismissal

The complete work rules are filed with the Labor Standards Inspection Office since 2022 (last updated 2023). We regularly review and update these rules to reflect changes in labor laws and company needs.

Full work rules are available in English and Japanese — ask your manager or HR for access to the complete documents.

White Rabbit では、シンプルを心がけています：会社とお客様のために最善を尽くすこと。日本で事業を営む会社として、労働法令に準拠した就業規則を整備しています。

就業規則の全文は英語と日本語で用意されています。完全な文書へのアクセスはマネージャーまたは人事にご確認ください。

Challenge yourself to get more technical.

Learn how things work. Learn how to analyze data. Making data-driven decisions depends on being able to pull together and analyze relevant data. Nothing that any of us do — engineers included — is fundamentally unlearnable.

There’s real power in formally, or informally, observing others in the org. If you want to learn as much as possible at a startup, you have to be proactive about your own growth.

A Few Practical Tactics

• Ask questions early and often. Don’t wait until you’re stuck. The cost of asking is almost always lower than the cost of going the wrong direction.
• Write things down. If it’s important, write it up. Writing forces clarity of thought and creates a record others can learn from.
• Default to action. Bias toward doing rather than deliberating. You can course-correct after you have real feedback.
• Seek out context. Understand why decisions were made, not just what was decided. Context helps you make better decisions independently.
• Build relationships across the org. Your ability to get things done often depends on relationships with people in other teams.
• Share your work early. Don’t wait until something is polished to share it. Early feedback saves time.
• Manage your energy, not just your time. Prioritize work that matches your energy levels. Deep work requires focused energy.

White Rabbit will be a different company in the months ahead because you are going to change it for the better. The products and features you create, the customers you attract and retain, the ways you improve our culture, and the service you deliver to our customers are the things that will define us.

Welcome to White Rabbit. We can’t wait to see where you take us.

これからの数か月で White Rabbit は今とは違う会社になるでしょう。あなたがそれをより良い方向へ変えていくからです。

あなたが生み出す製品や機能、引き寄せて維持するお客様、私たちの文化を高める取り組み、そしてお客様へのサービス ── それらすべてが White Rabbit を形作っていきます。

White Rabbit へようこそ。あなたがどこへ私たちを導いてくれるのか、とても楽しみにしています。

In putting this handbook together, we’ve stood on the shoulders of many talented people from external organizations. We especially owe thanks to the following source material:

• Basecamp’s Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters
• The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
• High-Output Management by Andy Grove
• Great at Work by Morten T. Hansen
• Netflix Culture Deck
• GitLab’s Handbook
• Valve New Employee Handbook
• Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
• Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• Basecamp’s Group Chat: The Best Way to Totally Stress Out Your Team
• No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

このハンドブックを作成するにあたり、私たちは多くの優れた外部組織や人々の知見に大いに助けられました。

Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Purpose: To clarify the company’s standards for handling workplace complaints. We are committed to a safe, inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to raise concerns. To maintain trust in this system, investigations must be conducted with rigorous fairness, neutrality, and due process for all involved.

1. Protection of Good Faith Reporting

We encourage employees to report safety concerns without fear.

• An employee who reports a concern that turns out to be unfounded (but was believed to be true) will not be penalized.
• This protection does not extend to knowingly false statements or the fabrication of events.

2. The Presumption of Neutrality

The investigator must operate as an impartial fact-finder, not an advocate for either side.

• When a complaint is received, the initial stance is neutral inquiry. We do not start with a conclusion of guilt or innocence.
• Preliminary communications should outline the allegations and the process, avoiding language that issues reprimands or demands behavioral changes before facts are established.

3. Evidence-Based Adjudication

Findings and disciplinary actions must be based on verifiable facts.

• Objective evidence (video recordings, audio, system logs, transcripts) takes precedence over witness memory or subjective interpretation.
• Where objective records exist, they must be reviewed prior to issuing determinations. If a subjective report contradicts a verified recording, the recording establishes the factual record.

4. The “Reasonable Person” Standard

We adjudicate harassment claims based on objective standards of conduct.

• Harassment is generally defined by whether a “reasonable person” in the same circumstances would consider the conduct intimidating, hostile, or abusive.
• We validate the complainant’s feelings but adjudicate based on the accused’s actions. Benign professional interactions are not policy breaches solely because a recipient experienced internal anxiety regarding them.

5. Due Process & Credibility Assessment

A fair workplace protects the accused from defamation as vigorously as it protects the complainant from harassment.

• The accused must be informed of specific allegations (dates, quotes, contexts) and given a meaningful opportunity to present contradictory evidence.
• If a party makes demonstrably false statements during an investigation, this impacts their credibility and may itself be grounds for disciplinary review.

6. Escalation for Executive Disputes

In cases involving senior executives or the CEO, the company reserves the right to appoint a neutral third-party investigator (external HR consultant or legal counsel) to ensure impartiality.

7. Confidentiality

Details of a grievance are confidential to protect the privacy of the complainant and the reputation of the accused. “Closing the loop” on a complaint involves stating the outcome (sustained/not sustained), not broadcasting the details to the wider team.

From “Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking” by Daniel Dennett

Making Mistakes

Mistakes are not just opportunities for learning; they are, in an important sense, the only opportunity for learning or making something truly new. Before there can be learning, there must be learners. Biological evolution proceeds by a grand, inexorable process of trial and error — and without the errors the trials wouldn’t accomplish anything.

The Key to Good Mistakes

The chief trick to making good mistakes is not to hide them — especially not from yourself. Instead of turning away in denial when you make a mistake, you should become a connoisseur of your own mistakes, turning them over in your mind as if they were works of art, which in a way they are.

The fundamental reaction to any mistake ought to be this: “Well, I won’t do that again!” The trick is to take advantage of the particular details of the mess you’ve made, so that your next attempt will be informed by it and not just another blind stab in the dark.

We have all heard the forlorn refrain “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!” This phrase has come to stand for the rueful reflection of an idiot, a sign of stupidity, but in fact we should appreciate it as a pillar of wisdom. Any being who can truly say this is standing on the threshold of brilliance.

So when you make a mistake, take a deep breath, grit your teeth, and then examine your own recollections of the mistake as ruthlessly and as dispassionately as you can manage. Try to acquire the weird practice of savoring your mistakes, delighting in uncovering the strange quirks that led you astray. Then, once you have sucked out all the goodness to be gained from having made them, you can cheerfully set them behind you, and go on to the next big opportunity.

Evolution Works the Same Way

In science you make your mistakes in public. You show them off so that everybody can learn from them. It is not so much that our brains are bigger or more powerful, but that we share the benefits that our individual brains have won by their individual histories of trial and error.

Actually, people love it when somebody admits to making a mistake. Generous-spirited people appreciate your giving them the opportunity to help. Let them! Either way we all win.

間違いの活かし方：良い間違いをするための最大の秘訣は、それを隠さないこと——とりわけ自分自身から隠さないことです。失敗を「味わう」という奇妙な習慣を身につけてみてください。自分を誤らせた要因を発見することを楽しみ、それを吸収したら前向きに次のチャンスへ進むのです。