The Squad Model Failed
Everyone copied the Spotify model.
Squads. Tribes. Chapters. Guilds. The vocabulary spread through tech companies like a virus.
Here'
Three Companies, One Well
April 20, 2010. Deepwater Horizon.
Three companies were responsible for one well: BP, Transocean, and Halliburton.
When the well blew
Structure Changed Behavior
In Season 3 of The Wire, Major Bunny Colvin runs an experiment.
He designates abandoned areas as "free zones&
The Org Chart Ships
In 1967, computer scientist Melvin Conway made an observation.
Organizations design systems that mirror their communication structures.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
Three Minutes Nineteen Seconds
January 15, 2009. US Airways Flight 1549.
At 3:27:11 PM, the Airbus A320 struck a flock of Canada
The Shift Change
Patient mortality spikes during hospital shift changes.
Not because nurses are tired.
Because context doesn't survive handoffs.
Studies
Four Is Not Arbitrary
Navy SEALs operate in 4-person fire teams.
Not 6. Not 8.
Four.
This isn't tradition. It's
Possible Versus Possible Now
"Is this possible?"
Wrong question.
Almost everything is possible given infinite time, resources, and political capital.
The question
Why Handoffs Kill
She asked for water.
Sorrel King had been watching her eighteen-month-old daughter recover from burns covering more than half her
The Series B Death Spiral
You're about to make four mistakes simultaneously. And they don't add. They multiply.
Your startup just