5 ms·

I love the Treehouse article. 90% of the employees voted for it. The 10% who did not were the managers. :) I wonder if any managers voted for it; or it any emp

by lmg643 13y ago

I love the Treehouse article. 90% of the employees voted for it. The 10% who did not were the managers. :) I wonder if any managers voted for it; or it any employees voted against it. I would be curious to hear from the displaced Treehouse managers as to what they think about the move. Maybe they were already doing fiefdom building and things that are orthogonal to the founder's vision. I would also love to hear a follow up a year from now from an anonymous employee or two as to how it worked out. nb. I did read the article from HBR on Google and managers - while I found it compelling, I also had to wonder whether HBS needs articles like that in their publication to ease the conscience of their students and alumni about the value of their degree and their utility to the companies they work for.

solidspace 13y ago
I was one of those Treehouse managers and I voted for it. Still very happy that I did. :)
- lmg643 13y ago
  what were the pros / cons from your perspective?
- thoughtpalette 13y ago
  What does your role at the company pivot into?
  - solidspace 13y ago
    It's really not as different as everyone is assuming. Fewer meetings, which is good. :) I wasn't demoted, everyone else was promoted, in a way. Anyone can be a leader. So I'm still leading, it's just on smaller teams and on more focused projects that change more frequently. I'm better able to apply my talents where they're needed from day to day.
    - thoughtpalette 13y ago
      Sounds like a challenging and rewarding transition :}
nickpettit 13y ago
Nick Pettit here. I was the Teaching Team Lead for about a year and then became the Chief Content Officer (CCO) for about 5 months before we went flat. I can't remember which way I voted. Not just saying that because I don't want to reveal it, I just honestly can't remember. I know it seems crazy that I'd forget such an important decision, but it was a very chaotic time with a million details, a lot of which are foggy to me now. That said, I don't really care which way I voted because I'm incredibly happy now that the dust has settled. To be clear, nobody was really demoted. I see it as everyone being promoted to being an ultimate decision maker. There are checks and balances in place, but generally everyone is free to serve our students however they think is best. Being a manager was insanely stressful with no escape. In a typical day I would answer about 150+ emails and have 5-10 meetings. We probably did lots of things wrong that created this situation and we could have learned to be better, but I think being flat is far superior to any evolution of our previous structure. Management was rewarding at times when the team would hit important goals, but it's poisonous for creativity. I hated killing other people's ideas, but I was the final judge of how we were allocating content production resources and I had to make tough calls in order to hit company goals and deadlines. In our new flat structure, people can execute on whatever they think serves our students best and they don't need anyone's approval to do it. We're now producing more content than ever and I think a lot of it has to do with people executing on projects they're passionate about. I found it extraordinarily difficult to make people passionate about projects that they don't come up with or decide to work on themselves. We're also able to produce more because managers are now free to produce content rather than, you know, manage. Not only did I kill the creativity of those around me, my own creativity also died a slow and silent death. Now that time has distanced me from that period, I've rediscovered my own passions and entrepreneurial spirit. I'm making websites, always learning about the latest stuff, and I've even been learning iOS in my spare time for fun. Management also allows little time to eat healthily, exercise, or sleep properly. I've managed (ha!) to gain ~20lbs in muscle mass in the last few months and I'm in the best shape of my life. I never thought a skinny nerd like myself could do that. Would I do it again? It's really difficult to say. It would have to be a massive financial reward, but I'd be more concerned with the circumstances and the happiness of my team. TL;DR: Management wasn't for me. I'm happier now than any other time in my life.

by lmg643 13y ago

solidspace 13y ago

I was one of those Treehouse managers and I voted for it. Still very happy that I did. :)

lmg643 13y ago
what were the pros / cons from your perspective?
thoughtpalette 13y ago
What does your role at the company pivot into?
- solidspace 13y ago
  It's really not as different as everyone is assuming. Fewer meetings, which is good. :) I wasn't demoted, everyone else was promoted, in a way. Anyone can be a leader. So I'm still leading, it's just on smaller teams and on more focused projects that change more frequently. I'm better able to apply my talents where they're needed from day to day.
  - thoughtpalette 13y ago
    Sounds like a challenging and rewarding transition :}

nickpettit 13y ago

Nick Pettit here. I was the Teaching Team Lead for about a year and then became the Chief Content Officer (CCO) for about 5 months before we went flat. I can't remember which way I voted. Not just saying that because I don't want to reveal it, I just honestly can't remember. I know it seems crazy that I'd forget such an important decision, but it was a very chaotic time with a million details, a lot of which are foggy to me now. That said, I don't really care which way I voted because I'm incredibly happy now that the dust has settled. To be clear, nobody was really demoted. I see it as everyone being promoted to being an ultimate decision maker. There are checks and balances in place, but generally everyone is free to serve our students however they think is best. Being a manager was insanely stressful with no escape. In a typical day I would answer about 150+ emails and have 5-10 meetings. We probably did lots of things wrong that created this situation and we could have learned to be better, but I think being flat is far superior to any evolution of our previous structure. Management was rewarding at times when the team would hit important goals, but it's poisonous for creativity. I hated killing other people's ideas, but I was the final judge of how we were allocating content production resources and I had to make tough calls in order to hit company goals and deadlines. In our new flat structure, people can execute on whatever they think serves our students best and they don't need anyone's approval to do it. We're now producing more content than ever and I think a lot of it has to do with people executing on projects they're passionate about. I found it extraordinarily difficult to make people passionate about projects that they don't come up with or decide to work on themselves. We're also able to produce more because managers are now free to produce content rather than, you know, manage. Not only did I kill the creativity of those around me, my own creativity also died a slow and silent death. Now that time has distanced me from that period, I've rediscovered my own passions and entrepreneurial spirit. I'm making websites, always learning about the latest stuff, and I've even been learning iOS in my spare time for fun. Management also allows little time to eat healthily, exercise, or sleep properly. I've managed (ha!) to gain ~20lbs in muscle mass in the last few months and I'm in the best shape of my life. I never thought a skinny nerd like myself could do that. Would I do it again? It's really difficult to say. It would have to be a massive financial reward, but I'd be more concerned with the circumstances and the happiness of my team. TL;DR: Management wasn't for me. I'm happier now than any other time in my life.