

Tech companies: open allocation is your only real option. - Rexxar
http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/tech-companies-open-allocation-is-your-only-real-option/

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biscarch
I really enjoyed reading this (fairly long) essay.

Valve has a company culture I admire and having a name for a similar structure
(open allocation) helps when speaking about intentions.

I particularly enjoyed the portion of the essay that dealt with dividers vs
subtractors. It's fairly evident that everyone starts as a subtractor, and
should not be fired _just_ because they take longer to get acclimated.
Dividers, on the other hand, are a kind of person that not only take down
companies, but also take down relationships and friends in their personal
lives.

I've personally spent much of my life identifying "divider" behavior in myself
and eliminating it so I can commonly identify these types of people. I wonder,
however, if there is a third category which would be a subtractor that doesn't
wish to improve. This could potentially be classified as a low-level of
divider, but takes longer to identify for me personally. I also wonder if
these types could have their course altered with the right persuasion early
enough.

Ex: Someone who makes concrete plans and bails increasingly over time with
originally convincing reasons. These originally convincing reasons are visibly
full of (not necessarily malicious) ulterior motives once you are familiar
with them. The "early intervention" in this situation would have the goal of
making the person more reliable by somehow solving their ulterior concerns.

My belief is this organizational structure is a driving force for my startup.

