I think Github has nailed it in terms of culture. I've been trying to get my company to adopt the Github ways for a while and I can't wait to share this latest gem with everyone.
I do have some questions though. What is Github's structure like? Is it completely flat? Are there project managers? How do you 'manage' remote workers? I feel like there has to be a little structure to the chaos, or at least some techniques and tools that make things work smoothly, especially with a company that's growing so fast.
There are no project managers. Everyone is a manager. Literally. You're all responsible for the pieces of the product you're working on in equal terms.
We of course have "primary responsibility people" who are sort of shepherds of various features, and inevitably leaders emerge from among the pack. But we don't have anyone who simply "manages" things.
Our structure is able to withstand this due to the way we structure our internal teams. We're constantly tweaking how we do that, but by keeping the teams small, strategic decisions close to the people who are actually executing them, and retaining intense focus on one piece of the GitHub Product™ (which could be anything from a feature to "performance" to "making GitHubbers' lives easier" to "making us more money"), it makes things run smoothly without some sort of overlord forcing it.
This reminds me of how a friend described the role of product manager: "a person with huge responsibility but no power." That doesn't have to be a bad thing. The best product managers know how to listen, give and receive feedback, persuade and build consensus around features, deadlines, marketing strategy etc even though they don't have the power to say "just do what I said."
I do have some questions though. What is Github's structure like? Is it completely flat? Are there project managers? How do you 'manage' remote workers? I feel like there has to be a little structure to the chaos, or at least some techniques and tools that make things work smoothly, especially with a company that's growing so fast.