Operating Well: What I Learned at Stripe

#97 – July 11, 2022

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Over the last few years, I’ve grown from a fine to a good operator. Some of these lessons I learned by watching some great operators during my time at Stripe, and some I learned the hard way.

“If our teams were just organized in the right way, and we adopted the agile process, we’d be so much more efficient.”

Patterns are essentially reusable solutions to common problems. When faced with a problem it is reasonable to consider a catalog of patterns in order to find suitable existing solutions before designing something entirely new. Then, it will be a matter of adapting these patterns to the scope of our reality.

One of my coaching clients, a Head of Engineering at his company, has been dealing with a small “re-org”. While supporting him, I again realized how organizational change is difficult but also how leaders are often concerned that it will rattle their people and affect their motivation.

When a company grows quickly, it undergoes stress. The faster the growth, the more the stress.Structure can make the situation better, but only if it is designed correctly for growth. Good structure provides a scaffold that allows your organization to grow. Poor structure can make things worse.

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