Mix and Match

Abstract

Typically, in startup companies without a strong hierarchy, a small group of people kicks off projects quite informally. They simply begin to work and continue to evolve their ideas towards a common vision. Successful startups gain competitive advantages because they are able to adapt to customer needs in a nonbureaucratic way. They follow a lightweight, ad-hoc development approach and avoid too large a burden of processes, documentation, management control, or project planning. They operate extremely cost-effectively and focus on implementing customer value as quickly as possible, in order to generate some return of investment. The progress can be impressive, as the most relevant and attractive use cases will be implemented first. Teams are rather small, everybody knows each other, and everyone is in it together. People in startup companies also tend to have a strong passion for their work and show an entrepreneurial attitude. The future of each team member is strongly tied to the success of the project. Over time, the product they are developing may be a tremendous success. Things will change in such a startup company once the team starts growing rapidly. Different teams will be established to focus on different topics. This work-split happens naturally, without a master plan. Maybe there will be goals that define the overall direction. And maybe everything we wrote about management by objectives and self-organizing, horizontal teams will be nicely implemented in that company.