I lead Organizational Design at Airbnb. Previously: August, Undercurrent.
If you've ever been reorg'd and thought "this is bullshit," guess what? You were probably right. In a 2013 McKinsey survey of 2,063 executives, 1,534 had experienced a redesign at their current organization. Among respondents personally involved in one, 21% said the
Code as proposal; Gusto deletes a surprising amount of product development; the coordination problem hiding inside AI productivity; social intelligence; systems thinking remembers its parents.
Having fewer managers may require a more explicit management system
A quick break from our normal programming for a moment where we imagine better futures for NYC city streets.
AI made every task faster, and made the research worse. The workflow (as opposed to the task) determines whether that speed is valuable or problematic.
A more profitable, faster company: check.
It could be the new default, either because it’s better, or because the shape of the firm is changing with technology. YMMV
Maybe Fridays are for Design?
Well-managed pace-layers? Scaling before we understand the science? Networks of interdependence? TBC.
Volkswagen gave a headhunter an unusual brief: find jobs, somewhere else, for 400 to 500 of its own managers. The headhunter turned it down. "I told them we cannot do it...we do not have 400 executive roles that need filling."
Glue work, role boundaries, and compensation in the sky (or, more accurately, on the ground).
Trees evolved repeatedly because the same form kept solving the same problems. Hierarchies, to me, appear to be the organizational equivalent: useful, persistent, and much less fragile when new growth can begin away from the top.
Type to search posts, essays, and chapters.
