This makes me grateful that I work for a small company. I was the 13th employee when I started a few years ago. I estimate we have ~70 now. There are at most 3 levels of management, and in many cases only 2. Every department leader personally knows every person working under them. One thing that I think keeps my org low-maze is that there is nobody who’s job is solely ‘managing other people’. The CEO and department heads all spend a significant amount of time doing object-level tasks. This type of model requires a high bar of individual competency, as there is much less micromanagement than in many industries. The management responsibilities are mostly to divvy out tasks among their team and serve as a knowledgeable person to ask questions. They are still part of the team and working alongside them.
IMO, organizations are healthier if they can stay under Dunbar’s number. Grow bigger than that and ‘Mazification’ is only a matter of time.
This makes me grateful that I work for a small company. I was the 13th employee when I started a few years ago. I estimate we have ~70 now. There are at most 3 levels of management, and in many cases only 2. Every department leader personally knows every person working under them.
One thing that I think keeps my org low-maze is that there is nobody who’s job is solely ‘managing other people’. The CEO and department heads all spend a significant amount of time doing object-level tasks. This type of model requires a high bar of individual competency, as there is much less micromanagement than in many industries. The management responsibilities are mostly to divvy out tasks among their team and serve as a knowledgeable person to ask questions. They are still part of the team and working alongside them.
IMO, organizations are healthier if they can stay under Dunbar’s number. Grow bigger than that and ‘Mazification’ is only a matter of time.