Open Undercurrent
How self-organization helped a small consultancy grow revenue, profitability, and engagement – all at the same time.
Clay Parker Jones
I lead Organizational Design at Airbnb. Previously: August, Undercurrent.
The Organization Is Broken
Are organizations degrading the human experience, or are they poised to accelerate our progress toward dignity and achievement in the 21st century? Yes.
Clarity Hurts
Watch out for approaches that prioritize clarity above all else. Clarity can make you a cog in a machine, it can stunt your personal growth, and can pressure organizations to stick to the status quo.
Show Up Whole
I spent the better portion of P1 on employee reviews. At Undercurrent, we do official reviews every four months, with the intent of doing them all in one week while we’re “closed” for renovations. There’s no better gift than being in these reviews, and hearing about everyone’s
Scheduling at Undercurrent
Standardizing timing changes everything. Scheduling and resourcing used to be a complete mess at Undercurrent. Individuals and teams would be double- and triple-booked some weeks, while their colleagues had nothing to do. Building a team required hours of concerted effort: Who works well together? What’s the right team for
Organizing Even Over Org Design
A lot of what we do these days at Undercurrent falls under the “Organizational Design” banner. But that banner falls short by failing to align with one of my most strongly held beliefs: that nobody can design an organization that’s good enough, that fulfills on enough of our success
21 Rules for Lab Development
Innovation Labs need rules. Here are 21 that I documented in 2014 during my work inside and alongside four different such labs. They work!
Five Strategy Things N° 5
Chick-Fil-A; The Agency Problem; NFL broadcasters; The Unsexy Side of Responsiveness; Amazon Fulfillment Centers
Flattening
Basic premise: because technology (and other factors), firms were able to flatten, putting more managers under the direct control of a senior leader.
Five Org Design Things N° 3
Conditions for a team; Measuring team effectiveness; Chautauqua; New customer relationships mean new responsibilities; Why do companies exist; The Shift Index.
Nine to One
For every dollar spent on hardware, companies need to spend nine dollars in software, training, and business process redesign. (I think that's way low.)
New Governance Models
I very much enjoyed this article from the FT. I am not the first person to worry about the joint-stock company. Adam Smith, founder of modern economics, argued: “Negligence and profusion . . . must always prevail, more or less, in the management of the affairs of such a company.” His concern is