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by staunch 2003 days ago
The hierarchical org structure in software companies is so broken. It has all the problems of a monolithic/centralized design and very few benefits. It's copied from people that were copying military organization which makes no sense at all.

The alternatives are many but pioneering new org structures is scary to most people. The cargo culting is extreme in this case.

Some company that is The Next Google might have a new org structure as its defining characteristic and core advantage.

1 comments

>>>It's copied from people that were copying military organization which makes no sense at all.

Do you mean "military organization makes no sense at all" or "military organization is not the correct structure for for-profit software companies"?

I meant the latter but the former is probably true as well. It does seem telling that elite military units don't operate much like the bulk of the military does.
The key part of modern military organization is the utilization of specialized staff officers for planning and management.[1] Even elite units still use it at the battalion-level or above. Organization below the battalion is driven by a LOT of factors which vary across nations, but there's a reason so many countries employ a division of labor for specific functional areas for which a unit is responsible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staff_(military)#Continental_s...