Ask HN: Shall we change the structure of organizations based on demographics? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Shall we change the structure of organizations based on demographics?

4 pointskovezd4 comments

I'm particularly interested in the deprecation of pyramidal structures in favor of more squared, network-like structures.

This seems obvious given that population grouped by age in most countries have transitioned from pyramidal to a more flat, squared structure.

The main advantage for organizations (besides the obvious social-benefits derived from equality, and greater employment) is the turn into a more cooperative culture, instead of the competitive that is based on artificial scarcity for the places in the top.

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I'm not sure what you mean by demographics.

To arrive at better solutions faster, it's important for team members to have diverse backgrounds and experiences. Homogeneous teams may become stuck in local optima.

Another factor to consider is the skill level, experience, and character of the individuals.

If team members have low skills, are juniors, or are only motivated by a high salary, then they will need a micromanaged organizational structure with a heavyweight and bureaucratic SDLC like Scrum or SAFe.

However, if team members are highly skilled, experienced, and passionate about their work, they can be given goals/OKRs, a budget, and a deadline, and they will be able to figure out how to achieve the objectives on their own.

I think the problem is that a flat or "square" organization is artificial. Pyriamid shaped, independent of lots of valid criticisms that can be leveled at it, is the "natural" shape for executing work. There is way more coordination required (even if you only consider the number of people you have to talk to) in other models.

Put another way, a pyramid-like org if done properly can rely on "the invisible hand" to do much of the coordination. Matrix-like requires some kind of central planning, which never works

Don’t you think its much harder to find a good ceo than a good junior software developer?

There are major inherent reasons why most social structures are pyramidal.

What’s your plan to work around them?

Good question. My take is that the elite mostly got their positions either by inheritance or by acting psychopathic. Bill Gates is heralded as a business genius but screwed over business partners and destroyed objectively superior technology. I think it would be better if leadership positions were allocated using lottery tickets. Existing structure only benefits the existing elite.

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