rgw@icdattcwsm:~/Blog$ cat 2024-09-20-A-More-Efficient-Organizational-Binary.md

An inevitable consequence of the IIT-IIM dichotomy in India is that - we have Product, folk who know technical stuff, but don’t code. And tech, folk who are at the last mile execution of business logic, but don’t do much besides writing code.

At the macroscopic level, the problem appears to be that this binary is that it is rife with conflicting decision making overlaps. Why should/ shouldn’t Product review the accuracy of a python pipeline? Why should/ shouldn’t tech concern itself with the viability of the Business requirement? Questions that have no clear answer. Creating friction. Frustration. And paving the way for a low-on-ownership bureaucratic culture.

At the microscopic level, the root cause becomes visible. A lack of polarity, breeds indecisiveness. And meetings. And more meetings. And more and more and many more meetings.

The solution? Go back to the simplicity of the builder v. seller binary. The builder builds, and the seller sells. The seller optimizes towards cutting edge copy, while the builder optimizes towards clutter-free code. Both will, in a practical sense, have some knowledge of the other’s domain, but accede decision-making powers to the expert of that domain.

While a nosey Product manager will be tempted to inspect the source code and have opinions on it, a simply Sales-oriented executive would be highly unlikely to give a damn. Not out of low-ownership, but out of respect for boundaries.

What’s true about human relationships at a one-on-one level, is also true for companies, and man in general. Complimentary polarity breeds love and power. Quibbling know-it-alls birth politics and death.

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