LET’S BE FWENDS ISSUE #87:

HIERARCHIES, EFFICIENCY, DECISIONS

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

~ Dolly Parton

This edition of Let’s Be Fwends shares three links for three things that are deeply connected to each other. First, we follow some thoughts on why it is so difficult for some people to thrive in organisations that rely on self-management. Then, we look at the role slack has in productivity. And finally, there’s a flowchart on how to make big decisions.

Working without hierarchies - and why it can be so hard

One of the things that really excite me is what is happening in the field of organisation development (or OrgDev for short) right now. In the wake of the second “Agile” wave comes something that is much bigger than Scrum (or Kanban, or any other agile tactic): The question how we actually want to work, and how we organise work. Most of the things we’re talking about (like Holacracy or Sociocraty) aren’t really that new, but now people start to be open to actually try them out, even in more conservative “business” environments that are still heavily influenced by management theory rooted in military organisational theory (yes, there’s a reason why the org chart of your company looks like the org chart of an infantry division). What all those ideas have in common is to radically push accountability (and decision making power) to the edges of the organisation: Strategic decisions are made by the top level of the company, tactical decisions are made by the people “on the ground” (another military metaphor just snuck in here). This effectively leaves out the epitome of the modern organisation: Middle Management.

If all decisions are made at the edges of the organisation, there isn’t really a lot of things to do in “the middle”, and hierarchical setups start to crumble.

While this looks cool and inventive on paper, it has a major consequence to everyone working in such an organisation: You’re not being managed anymore. The guardrails come off, and you need to start managing yourself. While some people thrive in such an environment, others find it extremely difficult.

Joost from Corporate Rebels gives an overview over what he calls “Middle Managerless Organisations” (or “MMLOs” for short) and why some people find it so darn difficult to work in such environments.

Efficiency is the Enemy

Just like everyone else, I have a couple of buttons you can push to get an immediate response. One of those buttons is ignoring the difference between Efficiency and Effectiveness.

Trying to be efficient is the worst thing you can do if you want to be effective. Trying to fill every waking minute of your day with “something productive” means very little actual work will get done (I will fight you on this).

If you’ve ever encountered a team that always plans to capacity, you know what I mean.

Slack is good. Slack is your friend.

How to make Decisions

Here’s a nice flowchart by Michael Lopp on his decision making process. Also, check out Shreyas Doshi’s Radical Delegation matrix.

Two great tools to reflect on the next time you need to decide something.

That’s it from this edition of Let’s be Fwends. I hope you have a very un-efficient day today. You need it. 🦥