Is a nonhierarchical workplace a more creative and happier
one?. New York ’s Matthew Shaer reports: At ten in the morning on a recent Wednesday,
the 50-odd employees of Menlo, most of whom are young and appealingly tousled
and predisposed toward navy or forest-green hoodies, rose from their desks and
formed a large circle in the middle of the room. Menlo developers practice
something called “pair programming”—a technique whereby two coders work
simultaneously on a single machine, with one actually manning the keyboard and
the other backseat driving from an adjacent chair. The groupings typically
remain intact for a few days or a week, at which point they are scuttled and
reassigned, the hope being that the constant mutation in team structure will
help encourage creativity and prevent frustration.
Since there are no bosses at Menlo (at least not in the
traditional sense) and no middle managers (ditto), all that reassigning and
fluctuation falls to the team as a whole, a process that requires a lot of
air-traffic control. Every morning, the entire staff circles up to discuss
strategy.
On the day I attended, the meeting moved with martial
efficiency. Two by two, the pairs stepped forward and, with each employee
gripping one of the horns of a fat-lady-sings-style helmet, the unofficial
symbol of Menlo Innovations, they laid out their plan for the eight hours ahead…..
There was some clapping and some
backslapping, of the kind you might observe at a particularly boisterous
rec-league indoor soccer game, then all the employees were filing back to their
desks, past a poster of Frank Zappa and a bust of Thomas Edison, the patron
saint of Menlo and the guy whose famed laboratory, in Menlo Park, New Jersey,
inspired this Michigan company’s name. Later, one of the quality advocates at
Menlo, Joe Rock (real name), explained that the a.m. meeting helps keep morale
on the team high and, more important, encourages a feeling of camaraderie—a
sense that every one of the staffers is working together toward a common goal.
Hence the circle, which, in a nod to King Arthur’s court, ensures that no one
gets a seat at the head of the table.
….Consider, for instance, the fact that hiring at Menlo is
handled by committee, with each applicant spending a little bit of time with a
group of employees, until a consensus can be reached. That same collective
decision-making happens during promotions, layoffs, and flat-out firings…
Read all about it at http://nymag.com/news/features/bossless-jobs-2013-6/
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