I lead Organizational Design at Airbnb. Previously: August, Undercurrent.
Why do founders behave so poorly? Why do they struggle to distribute authority? Why is it so hard for employees to have their voices heard, for their good data from the edge of the organization to be incorporated into decisions? I believe all of this stems from asymmetrical risk. Almost
Governance is recorded as either Roles or Policies. All of it is changeable with data on a cycle-by-cycle cadence, at open, facilitated Governance Meetings. Policies apply to teams that create them, and to any sub-teams. Everything else is up to your best judgement.
Some decisions are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible — one-way doors — and these decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. If you walk through and don’t like what you see on the other side, you can’t get back to where you were
At the beginning, August had two key goals: making a significant contribution to human productivity growth; being the fuel for meaningful innovation.
Three old technologies (rule of law, market forces, and transparency) can help us move toward seven universal performance criteria for organizations: purpose; fitness; vitality; fairness; power; connection; safety.
Using Amazon as a way to understand what works, what doesn’t, and what’s got to change.
When it comes to organizing humans, the only thing that matters is legitimacy.
How self-organization helped a small consultancy grow revenue, profitability, and engagement – all at the same time.
Are organizations degrading the human experience, or are they poised to accelerate our progress toward dignity and achievement in the 21st century? Yes.
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.
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
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
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