[tl;dr Go and read Joel Spolsky's own blog post - quotes printed here are taken from there without explicit permission.]

Joel Spolsky is a man who set out with a simple goal - "make a company where the best developers want to work" - and has in the process created two of the best known (amongst their target audience) properties on the web - StackOverflow and Trello. I've used (and paid for) FogBugz, his original product, used (and paid for) StackOverflow, and currently use (and will probably pay for) Trello every day - possibly every hour.

If you want to know what it might be like working at a company that passes all of the Joel test, check out this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF8ZVB-v3IM

Alternatively, just enjoy this snippet from his latest blog post (about the Trello spinout), and then work on getting your boss to read it.

Even though Fog Creek, Trello, and Stack Exchange are now three separate companies, they are all running basically the same operating system, based on the original microprocessor architecture known as “making a company where the best developers want to work,” or, in simpler terms, treating people well.

And what is this Human OS?

This operating system applies both to the physical layer (beautiful daylit private offices, allowing remote work, catered lunches, height-adjustable desks and Aeron chairs, and top-tier coffee), the application layer (health insurance where everything is paid for, liberal vacations, family-friendly policies, reasonable work hours), the presentation layer (clean and pragmatic programming practices, pushing decisions down to the team, hiring smart people and letting them get things done, and a commitment to inclusion and professional development), and mostly, the human layer, where no matter what we do, it’s guided first and foremost by obsession over being fair, humane, kind, and treating each other like family.