Re:Jason Fried: Why I Run a Flat Company
by jasonfried on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @11:37AM
(#2415488)
We've experimented. That's how we've become more confident in our decision to be as flat as possible. We believe it continues to be the right direction for us.
Re: manager's options... We don't offer options so that's not an issue.
Key word: Experimented?
Past tense, too.
Re:Jason Fried: Why I Run a Flat Company
by rsinger9 on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @03:46PM
(#2416632)
My cocktail title at 37signals is "Product Manager," so whatever experiments are going on with management aren't completely past tense. I do UI design, work with the programmers, help design and dev work together and contribute strategy ideas to the partners.
Despite the cocktail title, there still isn't a clear "path of authority" or anything like that. The buck stops at the partners, and the rest of us function like a meritocracy. The ones with a track record or expertise on a given topic have a respected voice, and there is always opportunity for expertise to shift or widen over time. It's that fuzzy-edged quality to the role that makes it feel experimental for me.
..
"We've experimented with promoting a few people to manager-level roles."
So they are flat, with no chief anything, but they have 'manager-level roles'? Am I missing something or is there a contradiction in his description?
Edit: Got it, 'experimented' meaning that they tried, didn't work, and they went back to flat. Thanks for the responses.
Besides that I find that even with no job titles or formal roles, people within a company tend to self-organize and take on de facto roles. The only difference is that it isn't formalized, and people who end up managing aren't being paid manager salaries or getting manager options.