Organizational degeneration

I had a previous rant about how to be safe in a start-up environment, and to continue this particular theme, I'd like to wax somewhat lyrical about what can happen in start-ups as they grow. If you know the signs, you can sometimes spot the ‘stage' in which an organization finds itself, and decide if that's where you want to be.

As before, let's start off with the bright young things who have the next iThing idea. Let's call these people ‘Type A'. Between 1 and 5 of them are enough to kick off a 'startup'. They are brilliant, superstars, overachievers, driven individuals, INTJ probably and work 24 hours a day on their iThing. When it comes time to hire the next round of people, every one of our 'Type A' folks is involved in the hiring process and they are looking for very similar individuals.

 

All of a sudden there are 10 of them, and the place trends towards chaos. Compare this situation with an atomic reactor. Get too many neutrons rushing around hitting other U²³⁵ atoms and all of a sudden everything gets out of control, so we need to insert a few control rods.

They need some calmer people, but not too calm. They need ‘Type B' people, but these folks are still pretty much the top of the pile. They are top-level performers who will work long hours and commit themselves to the iThing and to the company. We now have too many people joining for all the original ‘Type A' to interview everyone, but the standards are still high and the company prospers and is firmly on the upward growth path. 20 or 30 'Type B's take the company onwards and upwards at a frantic pace, but then the iThing gets released and it's time to take the company to the next stage.

 

This is where it starts to get a little risky, because now it's time to hire a large number of people as the company grows. You will need admin, financial, HR etc. and let's call these ‘Type C' folks. ‘Type C' folks are those wonderful workers that make this country great. They are not going to break themselves or their families by working 24 hours a day like your ‘A's and ‘B's, but they are going to do everything they can to do the best job they can. They are conscientious, they WILL work weekends when necessary, they WILL stay late to get the quarterly results out, they are the salt-of-the-earth. The problem, however, is that they are human and not driven by the same zealotry as the 'Type A' and ‘B' folks. It has been my experience that the true 'feel' of a startup disappears around 200 employees, and the major change occurs.

Occasionally, the HR department, who now do all the hiring and most of the interviewing, makes a mistake because it is tough to find zealots for the accounting department, and the 'Type D' people start to gradually drift into the organization ... and then it all starts to go pear-shaped.

The typical 'Type D' philosophy includes "Friday is POETS day", "lunch is a 90 minute occasion", "I won't be in today, I have a cold", smoking/water-cooler huddlers and "I can't work this weekend, we are taking the dog to a canine camp for the day". How very judgmental of me to denigrate those folks who want to take their dog out for the weekend, but I am sorry, work is work and per ardua ad astra. Eventually, of course, the 'Type  D' folks start to hire people as well. The 'Type D's are those folks who will never hire anyone as good as they are (which is a pretty low level for the bar anyhow) as they are always worried that their hires will eventually be promoted above them if they are indeed recognized as better. Once a company gets to have about 500 people, the presence of at least a few 'Type D's is inevitable, and their influence is pernicious.

This leads us to the final group of people that the 'Type D's hire ... the 'Type E's! If the 'Type D' philosophy is "let's see how I can avoid doing anything", then perhaps the 'Type E' philosophy is "let's see if I can deliberately mess up what everyone else is doing AND do nothing". If you have ever worked at a larger company, or sometimes even a medium-sized one, you undoubtedly know at least a few of these 'Type E's. They are the ones who pilfer the supply cabinet with the comment "They'll never miss this". The ones who peer over your shoulder as you send a slightly off-color to your best friend saying "If you're sending that to anyone, I'll sue you for harassment". The techies who say "I know how to bring our billing system down".

Unfortunately, they are present in EVERY larger organization, and like roaches, they are virtually impossible to get rid of.

My guess is that almost everyone who read this column will be a 'Type A', ‘B' or ‘C', so, when looking for a job, consider where you think the company is in its growth path and join accordingly!

Glyn Meek, with 40 years of experience in the technology industry, has earned his curmudgeonly outlook.