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April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Are Managers An Endangered Species?
If team are self-directing, why do we need managers?
Curtis "Ovid" Poehttp://allaroundtheworld.fr/
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
The Elephant in the Room
• The “unsolved problem” in Agile• Traditional management doesn’t work• This problem is often ignored• So … history
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hbarrison/7522705738/
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Hunter-Gatherers
• Follow the leader• … or die• Tend to be more egalitarian• Tend to be more communal
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Feudalism Oversimplified
• Local allegiances• Poor internal communication– No price signals– Thus no markets (in the modern sense)
• Command-and-control from king to serf
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
The Feudal Era
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
The Corporate Era
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Wait, what?
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Startup
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Growth
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Mature
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Senile
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Progressive
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Why Do Corporations Struggle?
• Why don't big companies innovate more? (Forbes)• Why big companies can't innovate. (Harvard Business Review)• Why is innovation so hard for large companies? (Game
Changer)• Why small companies have the innovation advantage.
(entrepreneur.com)• The Dark Side of Analyst Coverage: The Case of Innovation.
(Journal of Financial Economics)
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Public Companies
• Share prices tied to compensation• Share prices tied to job security• Share prices vis-à-vis company takeover• Share prices as a measure of success
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Share Prices
Keeping share prices highrequires minimizing risk
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Share Prices
Minimizing riskmeans
minimizing innovation
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Inefficiencies
• Feudal societies were inefficient– Local allegiances– Poor internal communication• No price signals• Thus no internal markets (in the modern sense)
– Command-and-control from king to serf
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Inefficiencies
• Corporations are inefficient– Local allegiances– Poor internal communication• No price signals• Thus no internal markets (in the modern sense)
– Command-and-control from CEO to grunt
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
If we are willing to die for Democracy and Capitalism… why do we forbid it in our corporations?
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
People (a.k.a. “resources”)
• Little personal incentive• Groupthink• Risk averse/hide-and-seek• Blame avoidance• Large projects bring prestige
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Why Do Feudal Corporations Exist?
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Why Do Feudal Corporations Exist?
• Brand recognition• Mature products• Financial reserves
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
How Do Large Corporations Cope?
• BBC Blue Room• Funding startups• Litigation instead of innovation (“Hello, RIAA”)• Going Agile
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Existing Agile Corporations
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
37signals
• Basecamp, Highrise, Campfire, Rails• 38 employees• Self-organizing teams• Reluctantly trying “middle manager” role
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Github
• Github!• 200+ employees• Self-organizing teams• Reluctantly trying “middle manager” role
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Priceline
(profits courtesy Booking.com)
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Booking.com
Goal Sell more hotel roomsStrategy An Agile companyTactics P.O.P. (ish)
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Booking.com
• Third largest e-commerce site in the world• 200+ IT staff• Thousands of employees• No project managers
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Priceline Record Growth
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Booking.com Strengths
• Relatively flat hierarchy• Excellent customer service• A/B testing experts• Strong continuous deployment• Focus on customers, not code
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Booking.com Challenges
• Extensive technical debt• Lack of Perl developers• Dutch tax law changes• Poor US market penetration (*)• Focus on small projects
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE
• Half-Life Series• Counter-Strike Series• Team Fortress Series• Portal Series• Left 4 Dead Series• Steam
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE
• 250+ people• Better profits/employee than Google or Apple• The platonic ideal of Agile?• What are corporations for?
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE
• Entirely self-funded• Own their intellectual property• “Hiring well is the most important thing in the
universe. Nothing else comes close.”
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE
• No managers• None• Really
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE
• No job titles, either (except on business cards)• Everybody is an expert• 100% Time• All desks have wheels• Evaluation by your peers
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE Struggles
• “Valve Time”• Mentoring• Disseminating information internally• Long-term predictions• High barrier to entry
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
VALVE (Alleged) Struggles
• Not always as flat as they appear• Excess cash can kill incentives• Windows lock-in
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
New Employee Handbook
VALVEhttp://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Ricardo Semler• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_semler• http://www.semco.com.br/en/• 27% average annual growth for 25 years• http://www.slideshare.net/camilletaper/semco• "Leading by Omission" speech (Google it)
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Other “Managerless” Comapanies
• Morningstar, Inc.• Gore-Tex ®• Zappos.com• Medium.com• … and many more
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Process Versus Product
• Products over process• Managers are often “Process”• Hence, minimizing management
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Managerless companies
• Generally agile/lean• Usually tech companies• Almost always privately funded
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Open Questions
• Can “managerless” succeed long-term?• What social changes might this entail?• Where are managers required?• Can public companies effectively compete?
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Summary
• Corporate management resembles feudalism• Agile teams are self-directing• Many companies are eliminating management
April 11, 2023 Copyright 2014, All Around The World
Questions?
?http://www.allaroundtheworld.fr/