I worked at this one hierarchical software firm. It had a massive, seemingly never ending upwards hierarchy. I could never figure out who managed what, or who was who's manager. The advantage to a self-organizing company is that a lot of this complexity/inefficiency isn't there.
-
-
The Peter Principle (people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their "level of incompetence") applies strongly at hierarchical firms. Managers can appear like an absolutely crazy concept when viewed through the eyes of a self-organizing firm.
Show this thread -
At one hierarchical firm, I watched as around 10 developers followed around their manager at an event. When their manager said "let's go!", they all followed like a little army following their general. It was totally hilarious: A bunch of full-grown adults following some dude.
Show this thread -
As a worker inside one rigid hierarchical firm, the tree of relationships was almost impossible to navigate. I was more or less outside the hierarchy, beneath someone very high. But I wasn't part of the manager club. It was a very opaque structure, super resistant to outsiders.
Show this thread -
One large hierarchical firm scales up by taking a pre-designed Company Office Template and just stamping it out all over the world. New offices can form up around existing small teams that are acquired.
Show this thread -
The satellite offices at these companies can have very different cultures. One office I nicknamed "The Pirate Ship". The workers hated their managers here, and were threatening to walk at any moment. They were particularly mad about the lack of office space.
Show this thread -
I treated one rigid hierarchical firm like I was at a self-organizing company. I just optimized to Get Something Done. It was hilarious, as I broke every rule in the book to get this one important thing accomplished. I was near the "top" outside the manager hierarchy so it worked
Show this thread -
But I did piss off a bunch of people because I didn't follow the Rigid Hierarchical Company Protocol. Only the CEO was allowed to do those things. Amazingly, at a self-organized company you have many of the powers of a CEO.
Show this thread -
At huge hierarchical firms execs and high-level managers are basically like Corporate Gods. They have Official Powers. Leaf-node workers are beneath them. They can talk differently and strangely, and only associate with other Corporate Gods. They are a different breed of worker.
Show this thread -
When I was younger at one ~100 person hierarchical company I was a leaf-node worker. One day my manager said "Keep quiet and let's go to an offsite. Tell no one else." I was utterly amazed as this meeting was unlike any other I had seen. Managers were yelling at each other.
Show this thread -
And so I learned, the manager hierarchy behaves differently when only among themselves. They treat the leafy workers differently, and there are tons of official secrets. It's a very secretive, elite club.
Show this thread -
The managers at large hierarchical firms and execs have lots of secret offsites. The managers get special offsite Manager Training as well. Whenever you interact with these people, how they treat you will depend on whether you're in the Club or not.
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.