As speculative as the reporting might be, I do think they're on point with the irony: "It's beyond ironic that Zappos wants its employees to get excited about losing hierarchy in the operation when the hierarchical structure is exactly what allowed the leadership to force 'Holacracy' into place."
Yet to call this a failure of self-direction would be a failure to see beyond the superficial marketing (and reductively prescriptive nature) of Holacracy. It's a bit like saying that Stalin's Five Year Plans were failures of socialism when there was not a kernel of socialism left in the Soviet Union by that point—or ever, really, thanks to the Bolsheviks who had utter contempt for "the masses". On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 12:56 PM, Adam Wight <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks, I'd be interested to hear the perspective from the insiders, too, > I'll forward if I find anything. > > The Forbes article is quite dishonest reporting, as much as I agree with > the sentiment behind it. 18% turnover seems low considering the 3+ month > severance deal they offered everyone, and there is no comparison to the > turnover prior to their structural changes. > > Another enormous hole is the assumption that everything at zappos is still > decided in a top down way. I think that's unlikely to be the case, and > anyway it would require interviews or other real data to make that claim. > > Looking forward to learning more! > > Adam > On Jan 18, 2016 12:35 PM, "Grace Gellerman" <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Follow up: >> >> >> http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/01/18/whats-causing-zappos-to-hemorrhage-talent/#443ea49435d931be6f2b35d9 >> >> On Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 3:18 PM, Max Binder <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Late to the party, but this stuck out to me as familiar: >>> >>> old-fashioned management hierarchies stifle innovation, because they >>>> naturally generate informal rules and cliques of powerful insiders, which >>>> is inefficient and demoralizing, so a new and better system would be >>>> founded on clear, transparent rules. Even better, the rules should be >>>> flexible and adaptable, so governance procedures should be incorporated >>>> into the system. >>> >>> >>> when everyone knows the drill it eliminates much of the time-wasting >>>> verbosity and psychological microdrama that often turns workdays into an >>>> endless series of unproductive jaw-sessions. >>> >>> >>> There's also a lot that makes the Zappos approach seem dogmatic, but >>> it's hard to quote. Good read. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 3:05 PM, Arthur Richards <[email protected] >>> > wrote: >>> >>>> While the article doesn't mention Holocracy, it DOES mention Holacracy. >>>> I should have skimmed closer rather than just searching the article with >>>> command+f for a misspelled word :p >>>> >>>> On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Arthur Richards < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Oh, and of course: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holacracy >>>>> >>>>> On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 2:57 PM, Arthur Richards < >>>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I haven't read the article yet but did notice they don't mention >>>>>> Holocracy in it. If you're not familiar with it, Holocracy is a a >>>>>> 'complete >>>>>> system for self-organization' - it's an organizational system that tries >>>>>> to >>>>>> apply agile principles at an organizational and management scale. >>>>>> Interesting stuff - Zappos is probably the most well known org that uses >>>>>> Holocracy. Read more: >>>>>> http://www.zapposinsights.com/about/holacracy >>>>>> >>>>>> https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/holacracy-and-the-search-for-agile-organization >>>>>> http://www.holacracy.org/ >>>>>> >>>>>> On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 2:47 PM, Grace Gellerman < >>>>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> I think that groups self-organize rather than individuals, but >>>>>>> there's some truth is stranger than fiction material in here: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122965/can-billion-dollar-corporation-zappos-be-self-organized >>>>>>> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>> teampractices mailing list >>>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Arthur Richards >>>>>> Team Practices Manager >>>>>> [[User:Awjrichards]] >>>>>> IRC: awjr >>>>>> +1-415-839-6885 x6687 >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Arthur Richards >>>>> Team Practices Manager >>>>> [[User:Awjrichards]] >>>>> IRC: awjr >>>>> +1-415-839-6885 x6687 >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Arthur Richards >>>> Team Practices Manager >>>> [[User:Awjrichards]] >>>> IRC: awjr >>>> +1-415-839-6885 x6687 >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> teampractices mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices >>>> >>>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> teampractices mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> teampractices mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices >> >> > _______________________________________________ > teampractices mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices > > -- Dan Duvall Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation <http://wikimediafoundation.org>
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