How Work Works
A 2-part series · best read from the top, in order.
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How Org Structures Are Classified and How They Evolve: From Functional vs. Mission Teams to the AI-Shaped Diamond
The difference between functional and mission-based organizations, their trade-offs, the real choices Apple, Amazon, and Toss made, and how matrix, squads, Team Topologies, and platform teams have patched the weaknesses of each pure form. Then how AI agents, by collapsing coordination cost, are reshaping the pyramid into a diamond.
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Why Old Teams Lose the Plot: When the Problem Ages, and When the People Age
A team that ran beautifully goes lukewarm at some point — and that's a structural event, not a failure of will. This separates two kinds of aging: the problem space wearing thin through diminishing marginal utility, and people wearing down against self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness) and Herzberg's two-factor model — with Teresa Amabile's progress principle on top. Different diagnoses call for different cures.