The Tyranny of Structurelessness (1970)
It's important to be mindful that the successful examples of flat / bossless organisations often discussed on HN are <i>massively profitable</i>.<p>What's missing from this picture? Statistics and case studies of flat/bossless organisations where money is very tight.<p>There is severe survivor bias at play. Massive profitability allows you to get away with just about anything.<p>People think that the market rewards virtue or merit; that profit is the reward for this or that method, strategy or culture. Not really. Market systems are agnostic to how a company is run. If you stumble on a gold mine, the market doesn't reward you because you flog your miners. It likewise doesn't reward you because you pamper your miners. <i>It rewards you for having gold</i>.<p>For every Valve and Github, there is a Microsoft or an Oracle.