king talk

Flat hierarchies become more and more popular recently, especially in the realms of design and software development. One particular consequence of this appears to be an increase in discussions and exchange of opinions in many situations. While this approach has its upsides, it can also cost valuable work time as well as create tensions within a multidisciplinary team.

As for pirates, they’re a little like these multidisciplinary teams of professionals we enjoy to work in: Differing skills, sharing the will to achieve something and united by the fact that they act outside of common rule sets and will all be equally persecuted for being part of the pirate crew.

Now imagine what would happen if every pirate insisted on their very own opinion where to sail to, or what booty to chase, or only how much rum to be given today. Not much except for long hours of discussion. And the same can be observed with project teams in loose hierarchies.

While the unity and self-determination of the team is one of the essential principles e.g. of Scrum, which we’ve read about here recently, it also creates a problem. Democracy is noble and valid by valuing every single member of a group. But it’s got a weak spot and that’s quick decision processes. When everybody has the possibility to give their opinion, everybody will do so. A set of confident personalities, set up as self dependent democracy will produce elaborate results, but only for a few problems. Eventually some egos will be hurt as well.

In my experience, flat hierarchies are very motivational but lack a moderator to force decisions. This leader must not necessarily be defined as superior boss. He may be part of the team only his profession not being a cannoneer, UI designer or back-end developer but a moderator and decider. Arrrr.