Process vs. Authority

It’s a mistake for teams to build a lot of processes before they establish clear authorities and decision-rights in their organization. But this is the approach that many flat organizations who embrace inclusive decision-making take: they over-design processes to include everyone and under-design clear lines of ownership and decision-making. Authority without process leads to bad decisions. Process without authority leads to slow (or no) decisions.

Before building tons of processes, build clear authorities, then determine what process is needed.