Case Studies - Autonomy

• Valve Software, a game company, has 330 staffers but no traditional management structure, reporting lines, job descriptions, or regular meetings. Instead, the company hires talented, innovative self-starters who decide which projects they want to join. New hires also are encouraged to start new projects so long as they fit the company’s MTP. The organization operates under the philosophy of “permissionless innovation”: relying on small, independent, multidisciplinary teams. It’s working well: Valve has a higher revenue-per-employee ratio than any other gaming company.

• Buurtzoorg, Dutch for “neighborhood care,” is a Dutch home-care organization that has attracted international attention for its innovative use of independent nurse teams in delivering relatively low-cost care.

• SpaceX. In a break with tradition for a science company, SpaceX demands that every requirement must have an individual’s name associated with it, not a department’s. Why? Because, after many years, an organization often ends up with a long list of requirements, some of which are no longer valid. When a team member goes back to check on why that requirement was put in place, it’s important to know whom, specifically, to ask. One challenge that SpaceX faced was that sometimes that person was no longer with the company, and the department had no idea why the requirement was put in place. 

• WordBlu is a consulting firm that specializes in transitioning leaders and companies around the world from hierarchical to democratic leadership. The company’s MTP is “Freedom at Work.” To support its mission, WordBlu creates a yearly list of global freedom-centered organizations and advocates for more freedom and autonomy in the workplace.

• ING Group. This giant international banking and financial services corporation, headquartered in Amsterdam, has assets of more than $1 trillion and 53 million clients in 40 countries. In 2020, in an extraordinary move, ING global headquarters underwent a complete transformation towards more autonomous ways of working. The company fired all its employees, who could then reapply for jobs in the new structure. In the process, nearly one-third of its workforce quit—and ING discovered that it could achieve the same business results with just the remaining two-thirds. 

• Haier. This appliance manufacturer implemented the “Rendanheyi” model in 2005, flattening the hierarchical organization and eventually removing all mid-layer departments. Along the way, 12,000 middle-level managers had to become entrepreneurs or leave. Meanwhile, the company’s 80,000 employees formed into thousands of micro-enterprises (MEs), each composed of 10 or fewer people. (This is an old example, but ask any MBA university today how to produce 55 million fridges and ovens, and they’ll design an incredibly centralized (and inflexible) structure.) 

Cryptocurrencies. Also known as Layer One blockchains, each major crypto currency publishes a set of tools on how to interface with that blockchain plus some documentation.  This approach has led to blockchains like Cardano and Solana being worth billions of dollars by allowing complete autonomy to their community. In 2022, we learned that Cardano’s ecosystem was largely designed using the ExO framework. One of the more recent and exciting protocols is Casper, where the founders have laid down a very long-term token release structure and demonstrated a commitment to systemic change.