"The original founders infused a collaborative ethic into every person that joined by eschewing personal credit, talking through conflicts face to face, and dis

"The original founders infused a collaborative ethic into every person that joined by eschewing personal credit, talking through conflicts face to face, and discussing almost everything in open meetings. But that ethic is codified nowhere; there is no written code of conduct. And yet it is embraced, almost religiously, by everyone that I spoke with." Abstracting one possible lesson beyond the specific context -- to me this is an example of an organization where they (successfully) maintain an emphasis on one of their core values by building their culture and habitat around it, rather than typical carrot-and-stick methods. That they've managed this with people spread over multiple countries and backgrounds is a tremendous achievement! "[...] ATLAS management led with little or no formal authority. Most people in the collaboration work directly “for” someone who is in no way related to their home institute, which actually writes their paycheck. For example, during the construction phase, the project leader of the ATLAS pixel detector, one of its most data-intensive components, worked for a U.S. laboratory in California. His direct subordinate, the project engineer, worked for an institute in Italy. Even though he was managing a critical role in the production process, the project leader had no power to promote, discipline, or even formally review the project engineer’s performance. His only recourse was discussion, negotiation, and compromise. ATLAS members are more likely to feel that they work with someone, rather than for them."