4 ms·

>> I don't think the shape of the org chart actually matters all that much. It's the channels of communication, which way information flows, and how much autono

>> I don't think the shape of the org chart actually matters all that much. It's the channels of communication, which way information flows, and how much autonomy the leaf nodes have that actually matter. Perhaps that is not what is indicated by a traditional org chart (who reports to who), but the "real" org chart does have vertices (people) and edges of different kinds. The most important factor is the amount of time that you control. 1.0 means you completely control your own time, 10.0 means you completely control the time of 10 people. The real org graph is what I am referring to. Interesting that Amazon is as bureaucratic as it is. Isn't it Bezos himself that came up with the "multiple paths to yes" concept. I suppose, some things are inevitable in an organization once someone has the power press the stop button one's income.

__derek__ 4y ago
> Interesting that Amazon is as bureaucratic as it is. Isn't it Bezos himself that came up with the "multiple paths to yes" concept. Are you referring to the "1 > 2, but 2 > 0" idea? That's compatible with the Amazon bureaucracy, which just requires finding a leader to sponsor the project even though it might end up redundant with another org's effort.
- osigurdson 4y ago
  I don’t think so but maybe. I recall watching a video once where Bezos states (accurately I would say) that in most companies any idea requires multiple people to say “yes” while startups only need one (the vc firm). His thesis is, this is why companies fail to innovate. It is pretty obvious in some ways. Once a company has reached a certain level, there will be many status quo forces that emerge because hey, things are “good enough” for some.
  - __derek__ 4y ago
    Ah, gotcha, basically the proliferation of veto points as companies grow into corporations. In its idealized state, Amazon avoided that by giving autonomy to the deeper nodes (the famous Two-Pizza Teams).

__derek__ 4y ago

> Interesting that Amazon is as bureaucratic as it is. Isn't it Bezos himself that came up with the "multiple paths to yes" concept. Are you referring to the "1 > 2, but 2 > 0" idea? That's compatible with the Amazon bureaucracy, which just requires finding a leader to sponsor the project even though it might end up redundant with another org's effort.

osigurdson 4y ago
I don’t think so but maybe. I recall watching a video once where Bezos states (accurately I would say) that in most companies any idea requires multiple people to say “yes” while startups only need one (the vc firm). His thesis is, this is why companies fail to innovate. It is pretty obvious in some ways. Once a company has reached a certain level, there will be many status quo forces that emerge because hey, things are “good enough” for some.
- __derek__ 4y ago
  Ah, gotcha, basically the proliferation of veto points as companies grow into corporations. In its idealized state, Amazon avoided that by giving autonomy to the deeper nodes (the famous Two-Pizza Teams).