Shreyas Doshi argues that people do three types of work in company: production for external stakeholders, organization to produce work, and self promotion1. He attributes this model to thinking by Ray Dalio within Principles.
| Type | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Produce | produce artifacts to serve the company’s external stakeholders | products, eng. infra, sales deals, services, support |
| Organize | creating the necessary structures & process to produce work | internal processes, resource planning, status updates, re-orgs, |
| Self-promotion | creating a proxy for their own competence and impact | performance reviews, status updates, 1:1s with their manager |
From this idea he argues that companies reach a crossover point where the majority of the work is the latter two rather than production2:
Naturally, a start up is more centered on the left of the graph, while large Corp is on the right.
1.
Doshi, S. People Do 3 Types of Work within Companies. Produce: Creating Artifacts to Serve the Company’s External Stakeholders. Organize: Creating the Necessary Structures & Processes for Produce Work. Self-promote: Creating a Proxy for Their Own Competence & Impact. A Short Tutorial👇🏾. https://x.com/shreyas/status/1329330848919810049 (2020).
2.
Doshi, S. There Comes a Point in a Company’s Life When It Becomes Its Own Largest Customer. This Is the Crossover Point in the 𝑥-Pattern below. Left Side of 𝑥 Is Largely about Produce Work. Right Side Largely Organize+Self-promote Work. Crossover Is Inevitable, but Defer It If You Can https://t.co/xapPXvNDqO. https://x.com/shreyas/status/1332889514079965186 (2020).