Flat Team Structure

The company’s product architecture must align with the organizational structure.

Independent cross-functional teams should be broken down into separate components first, services second, and Microservices, never.

In this environment, experienced team members can use their knowledge to guide and enhance their teams’ performance, using soft skills to act as mentors and maintain team unity.

It’s important to note that a change in power dynamics may occur, as these team members will no longer have the authority to promote or fire employees. This shift emphasizes that leadership must be earned rather than granted through a title.

Establishing independent units, like cross-functional teams, is crucial to completing projects or significant features without relying on management.

To ensure success without managerial intervention, the team needs proper processes that visualize the stream of value delivered and quantify individual efforts.

What if there was a queue with problems on one side and a group of people with proposals to solve those problems? A cross-functional team implies that the team includes every skill required to solve problems.

It may be possible to create an organization without upper management; through the delegation of the entire value stream flow to the delivery teams.

As individuals, we yearn for stability and predictability in our daily lives. Consistency in our goals, strategies, and is equally crucial. We seek assurance that we have the necessary resources, such as money, time, and information, to excel in our careers and achieve our objectives.

Autonomy gives purpose, everything else comes second.

Decisions must be made regarding the responsibilities typically held by managers, such as hiring and firing employees, conducting performance reviews, determining salaries, and resolving conflicts.

While coordination is still necessary for functional teams, daily management by middle managers is not.

Additionally, we all crave a sense of significance, appreciation, and acknowledgment for our efforts, especially from those whose opinions we value. Not meeting these fundamental needs can cause stress and negatively impact productivity and well-being.

To inspire and engage team members, we should create positive outcomes and make impartial decisions. We can establish a more productive and rewarding work environment by working collaboratively and prioritizing these basic needs.

Delegating authority over each part of your system to individuals rather than teams is advisable. This way, you can divide the defined and separated components among your engineers.

Doing so will help prevent them from creating low-quality work and allow them to produce their best work.

Organizations exist to solve problems that individuals cannot tackle alone.

The traditional hierarchy with middle management is only sometimes the most effective way to solve the issues and can create an inhumane work environment. However, organizations must adapt to complex problems in a constantly changing environment, requiring intelligence and mobility to succeed.

To thrive, companies must invent new ways of working.

Command and control structures work for intelligent individuals, but hierarchies can impede company survival in the long run.

Hidden information flows and obscure communication hinder mobility, so companies must strive for transparency and open communication. Company strategy should emerge from successful initiatives at all levels, not just from a single person.

Companies’ “new generation” values flatness, meaning decisions can be made quickly, experiments can be run more efficiently, failures can be addressed more promptly, and new solutions can be found faster.

While there are no proven best practices for creating flat organizations or defining what a “new generation” company means, Agile practices were in a similar situation 15 years ago and are now a mainstream approach in software development.

[¹]: Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?