While the idea of separate IC track looks like common sense, I don't think it plays well with traditional top-down structure (i.e. the structure of every single

While the idea of separate IC track looks like common sense, I don't think it plays well with traditional top-down structure (i.e. the structure of every single company out there). In top-down structure "resources" are allocated to "projects". The nature of the "projects" and details of allocation are carved out by "management". If you work as an IC on somebody else's project then he is your boss and you can't get much freedom beyond freedom in technical matters (usually Senior Developer title already implies this). If you work on the project of your own choosing that means you are a manager with really constrained resources and either you get more resources (usually it starts with a junior developer to help you with chores) and gradually become a real manager or your project risks to slide into irrelevance as you are outmaneuvered by real managers with big headcounts and budgets. What I would like to see is a working scheme for more fluid resource allocation scheme than fixed tree-like structure. This holacracy thing promises exactly that but I am not sure if it is really viable.