We don’t need a boss, we need a process
I really enjoyed this post by Miriam where she pokes back against the whole “design ain’t a democracy thing” and argues that teams don’t need a boss, they need a process instead:
What we like about a dictator is that they have a vision, and set the process, and take the responsibility to be decisive when necessary. But it’s not impossible for us to do that together, if we learn how to hold a strong vision collectively.
Gosh I love this. I also love the format of Miriam’s post here—a quote at the top and then the heading and article follows it. But! If it pleases the court, I would like to adjust my snarky writing because I was being a hyperbolic jerk about the whole “dictator” thing. It sucked that I was advocating for, ya know, fascism.
Instead when I think of a leader, I don’t think of a boss who tells me what to do. Rather, I think of a single person imbued with the responsibility of helping the team make decisions. The ideal experience of a team is that they all share a vision and process and don’t need anyone telling them what to do. 100%. Fully on board there. Ideally this all emerges organically where folks can work together collaboratively on a single goal, but often that’s not the case!
Actually, for me, this is extremely rare.
When I think of a leader, I think about how emergencies work at a hospital: when a code happens and a patient is in a bad state, a single individual takes up the role of leader and instructs others what their role is. Not because they’re the boss, or even the most experienced on the team, but because it’s the most efficient way to focus people on one task without duplicate effort. This process saves lives because this person is responsible for the team, elected by the emergency, so the team can be responsible for the problem.
But also also also I love this bit from Miriam’s post:
We must become a team, united against our work.