Working remotely with 150+ people

Post by sytse » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 6:59 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #47

sytse wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feature teams make a lot of sense, but one of the problems is that you tend to end up with two bosses, one team boss and one functional boss. At GitLab we're trying to see if we can do component teams with handoffs (UX => front end => back end). This is hard and we might have to reconsider. I've detailed the reasons in https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/leadership/#no-matrix-orga...

In any large engineering organization with a bunch of products each of which are large enough to need multiple teams, multiple bosses are inevitable. The issues and technology are just too complex for any single boss to manage everything. A typical agile team member might be accountable to a resource manager for HR type stuff, a Scrum Master for team tasks, a Product Owner for team priorities and requirements, and mu…

Post by sytse » Sun, Jan 08, 2017, 6:00 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #62

sytse wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know a matrix organization normally means a two dimensional one, with two bosses. You're totally right that all those functions exist and influence your work, but I don't think it is normal to call them bosses.

In most matrix organizations regardless of dimensionality each employee still has only one formal manager who deals with raises, career development, and disciplinary actions. The other "bosses" such as project managers aren't officially considered managers in that sense, although the employee may be accountable to them for certain things.