31–40 of 113 posts
It's worth keeping in mind that this is a company of 40 people. Half the size of most primitive hunter-gatherer tribes which had no formal organization whatsoever. At sizes that small, everyone knows each other, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and people can make decisions through consensus after a round of informal discussions. The problems only start once the "tribe" grows beyond 150. That's when the nu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
ActUp used to give managerial lessons for leftist organizations. Of the materials I saw, one of the things they used to teach was that a truly flat organization results in informal hierarchies developing, by the people most capable and/or passionate (because they're motivated by the issue primarily). But then these people are most likely to burn out, because without formal recognition of the power they need to achiev…
Do you have any links? I'd love to read more. How did they suggest dealing with changes over time, as members join and leave or shift roles as the organisation changes?
It's worth keeping in mind that this is a company of 40 people. Half the size of most primitive hunter-gatherer tribes which had no formal organization whatsoever. At sizes that small, everyone knows each other, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and people can make decisions through consensus after a round of informal discussions. The problems only start once the "tribe" grows beyond 150. That's when the nu…
I get the impression that service companies like Crisp can get away with this kind of org structure in a way that product companies cannot. If you are simply executing on consulting contracts, you can afford to act more like a collection of freelancers who share a space. When doctors do this, it's called a "group practice".
In fact, that seems closer to the actual situation than the article implied. From http://dna.crisp.se/docs/index.html :
> None of the 30+ consultants are actually employed by Crisp (although we do have a few employed office staff).
It's worth keeping in mind that this is a company of 40 people. Half the size of most primitive hunter-gatherer tribes which had no formal organization whatsoever. At sizes that small, everyone knows each other, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and people can make decisions through consensus after a round of informal discussions. The problems only start once the "tribe" grows beyond 150. That's when the nu…
Or innovate on a divisional or matrix-style organization where it's a series of independent units or teams of teams. Not too different from how we make complex programs integrate well. Decomposing them properly with complexity in the right spots lets the integration or supervisory part be small and simple. Could be something to apply to real-world organizations there.
- "It also means that there is no guaranteed salary. The only thing we guarantee is that you will have to pay a flat fee every month plus one-tenth of what you bill."
After making a mental note of that, go read the BBC piece. You'll notice how empty that article actually is. For example, the following sentence becomes meaningless:
- "Ultimately, the firm hopes that its way of working could inspire other companies to emulate the "Crisp DNA"."
What "DNA" of Crisp exactly? The DNA of having employees pay the company to work instead of the other way around?!? Of course, the BBC article wants you to think "DNA" as in "no CEO" instead of "workers paying a rent".
There's nothing wrong with that model (as another commenter mentioned doctors paying into a "group practice" for shared expenses such as an office and billing staff.)
However, leaving that fee structure out is incompetent journalism. If workers are the ones paying the company, it's easier for them to agree not to have a CEO manage them.
[1] Google's English translation of: https://www.crisp.se/om-crisp/jobba-pa-crisp
Yes, similar things have been tried before. See e.g. Ricardo Semler's Maverick! book (1993). Sounds interesting and seems to have worked well for them (judging from the book). https://signalvnoise.com/posts/945-excerpts-from-ricardo-sem...
Someone is always in charge. They've just decided not to write down the org chart on paper, is all.
They've written it down -- it's the board for big things and "shared among other employees" for others. It actually sounds pretty practical to me. As people become more responsible and self-regulating, there's less need for a single person to be in charge in a hierarchical sense. > The staff decided that many of the chief executive's responsibilities overlapped with those of the board, while other roles could be shar…
Needless to say, this model is not going to work quite so well with every type of creative process and personnel.