“A company with the wrong norms generates bureaucracy, sclerosis, delays, hypocrisy, cultures full of undiscussable topics, and lousy jobs. A company with the right ones generates excellent performance and a healthy work environment.”
"The Geek Way" is all the rage in tech circles, and Andrew McAfee surfaces a number of unique concepts in the realm of process and project management. From "farming for dissent" to managing your internal press secretary to the perils of stack ranking, this book relies extensively on interviews with successful companies, case studies from failed companies, and anecdotes from inciting actions.
“As the saying goes, though, ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ Some companies can successfully execute the strategies they come up with. Some can’t. The differences between these two types are largely cultural.”
Though concepts like single-threaded managers and the role of the "prisoner's dilemma" in corporate decision-making are fascinating, the author permits little to no discussion of the risks and failures of this geek way.
“Excess bureaucracy is a bug for anyone who wants a company to run efficiently, but it’s a feature for the Homo ultrasocialis who seeks to gain status in the organization. They’ll invent work so that they can be part of it. They’ll want to participate in more and more activities over time. They’ll strive to be consulted on lots of decisions, and if possible, have veto power over them.”
As an employee of a company that has taken to viewing this book as something of a playbook, I'm seeing firsthand how some of the negative aspects of this approach are impacting culture and collaboration. As a result, I think some of the grandiose language McAfee uses vastly overestimate the viability of this "way" as an airtight solution.
“A bunch of geeks have figured out a better way to run a company. As a result, they’re taking over the economy. And they’re just getting started.”
McAfee explores why some companies have cultures that have become an integral part of their brands (Netflix, HubSpot), how the agile methodology can improve openness and ownership, and how a reliance on science and speed can foster the innovation that make a company both successful and attractive to work for. Though the work can border on the precious, the topics and approaches do bear close examination for the right kinds of companies and industries.
“Bureaucracy [is] … a heavy curtain drawn between the right thing to do and the right person to do it.”
~Honore de Balzac
