It sounds wasteful until you've been with a company that outgrew its management structure. I spent many years at a place that grew from 200 to 800 people in about 3 years. We prided ourselves on the flat org and high level of responsibility. But as we approached the 500 mark, the cracks really started to show:
- Things truly requiring management handling (like raises, big expenses, hiring, etc.) took FOREVER in the best case because of the bottleneck at the top. More commonly, they got lost/dropped without explanation.
- Flow of sensitive information was slow and inconsistent because the only way to communicate with a flat org is all-or-nothing.
- Specialist engineers found themselves trying to track too many projects before they realized the overload was a problem (this was me)
- The president (and effective sole owner) was still deeply involved in all projects and regularly exercised veto rights. As the project load increased, the vetos landed later and later - some times after we'd already spent 50% of the budget! This left our customers up a creek and our reputation suffered.
- Things truly requiring management handling (like raises, big expenses, hiring, etc.) took FOREVER in the best case because of the bottleneck at the top. More commonly, they got lost/dropped without explanation.
- Flow of sensitive information was slow and inconsistent because the only way to communicate with a flat org is all-or-nothing.
- Specialist engineers found themselves trying to track too many projects before they realized the overload was a problem (this was me)
- The president (and effective sole owner) was still deeply involved in all projects and regularly exercised veto rights. As the project load increased, the vetos landed later and later - some times after we'd already spent 50% of the budget! This left our customers up a creek and our reputation suffered.