I think it was Marc Andreessen who said it that you’d rather be upfront with hierarchy than to pretend it doesn’t exist and have it form chaotically and without control.
I remember reading about some flat team structure at Gore Inc. in the 90’s and it was an epic failure.
Military relies on it more explicitly when you really need to get things done. In abstract sense, the military is more similar to companies than being different.
Yeah, you might enjoy reading "Tyranny of Structurelessness". But there are other options besides "controlling hierarchy", "secret, denied controlling hierarchy", and "chaotic failure".
Just as an example, consider a party. When I host, I am very definitely in charge. It's my space, it's my party. Friends will often help, serving as an intermediate hierarchical layer. But this hierarchy is mostly supportive, not controlling. I may slip into control mode when, say, I have a bad guest who needs to be ejected. But most of the magic happens not because I'm in charge, but because I've created a space for more dynamic interactions to arise without interference.
I remember reading about some flat team structure at Gore Inc. in the 90’s and it was an epic failure.
Military relies on it more explicitly when you really need to get things done. In abstract sense, the military is more similar to companies than being different.