The Starfish and the Spider, The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organisations
by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
This is an interesting look at the overall strategies that could be adopted for an organisation or even political movement. It is worth considering if these strategies can be applied to an organisation or group, or even to a project management team within a large organisation. There are many different examples used, from the Apache structure to MGM and the peer-to-peer music website Grokster.
They identify ten rules in summary:
- Diseconomies of scale – adaptability, less overheads, etc.
- The network effect – Less costs, greater value with each new member, richer information.
- The power of chaos – Creativity, innovation, etc.
- Knowledge at the edge – The best knowledge can be at the front lines.
- Everyone wants to contribute – This motivation is a key aspect.
- Beware the hydra response – Difficult to kill.
- Catalysts rule – Inspire action and release, but make them permanent, and your vulnerable.
- The values are the organization – Ideology fuels the decentralised structure.
- Measure, Monitor, and Manage – Starfish have different KPI’s than centralised structures, they can be an advantage.
- Flatten or be flattened.
Usefully, it also includes ways to recognise, and defend against decentralised competition, i.e. structured like a Starfish. Including, changing the ideology, centralizing them, and/or decentralizing yourself.
This book could give you an entirely new perspective!
