What are your thoughts on “Flat” organizations or “Agile” teams? I feel like especially in the design space, agile has been touted as the next step even though most companies still have a hierarchical structure 90% of the time.

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This is a really good question. I'm on a design team where the manager claims to run a "flat" team. In theory, egalitarian teams are not 100% attainable and "flat" typically means hidden hierarchies which can create power flexes within teams and blur who leads what and who makes the final decisions. There's an Art Director who acts a bit like an Associate Creative Director and an Associate Creative Director that feels demoted because she's new to the team and was told that they need to earn everyone's respect. To me, trying to run a "flat" team can create a mess. I believe in collaboration that leads to shared decision making but it needs a healthy mix of vertical leadership...not just horizontal.

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Yea flat has always seemed like an ideal but in terms of real world application it doesn't seem like truly flat works. I think there are definitely things to take from it but I feel most places that run off some type of hierarchy with designated roles is what would work best.

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I have never worked in a truly flat organization before. If it didn’t start as flat or agile, it’s nearly impossible to change. Agree that some companies take some traits of each, but they are hierarchical at the end of the day.

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Yea I think it's hard to find any truly flat organization. There still needs to be leadership steering the company a certain way and while you can have a more democratic process and allowing employees to have a say in that direction, without a hierarchy of leaders to do that work, it can get messy

Flat is pretty BS behave there will just be a hidden hierarchy. Watch who gets what projects.

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Yes, it ends up being the favorites who get raises.

Agile is 5 years ago. It’s all about POM now.

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Yes. As long as the team is truly empowered it’s a good model.

A good manager can keep the appearance of flat. While still maintaining the control in the process. True flat takes a learning environment and lack of ego. (Think college)
Agile = Micromanaging.

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