Titles?

The transition from Fiat to Radical will not happen in a day. It’s going to take time. In the meantime, some people will need to be able to tell what their title is. Some people have the confidence to just choose their own title, but others do not. So how do you assign titles in a Radical company?

Gore & Associates

Some companies, like Gore Associates, the makers of GoreTex fabrics, just use Associate for everyone. Your coworkers are the people you literally associate with and it makes sense that Associate is a universal title in that environment. But, at least temporarily, when a person at Gore needed to speak to someone outside the organization, they would have a title to write down on a business card and make people from Fiat businesses more comfortable.

Nearsoft

This reminds me of a Nearsoft developer who really wanted an authority to give him a title. Nearsoft didn’t have a Fiat hierarchy, so it would have been easy enough to give himself a title. But this person insisted that a title be given to him.

Later, talking to him, I found out that he considered a title an acknowledgement. I said something like, Then you should have gone to your team! They are the “authority” on that kind of acknowledgement. At that moment we realized that his appealing to me and me reacting as the authority was what got in the way. We are so blind to Fiat; it is hard to resist falling back into it.

A Social Need

Sure we can be the stewards of our identity, but we can not ignore that identity is also provided by our community^∇. If someone, Mi-Lan, is a baker, people know her as “Mi-Lan the baker.” If Mi-Lan mostly yells, people around her expect that behavior because that’s the way she is, that is her identity. If on the other hand they dont accept that behavior and she adapts, that is her identity.

In a Fiat world identity comes down from above: your boss gives you a title. This doesn’t work in a Radical environment where the community reflects the qualities of the person; their work role is secondary, and can change.

Disentangle

To decentralize, disentangle. In this case, how do we disentangle the boss’ function? How do we decentralize the power of assigning titles?

One approach is to have everyone responsible for coming up with their own title, like they did at Nearsoft.

Another way would be to have everyone who cares assign you a title. After everyone has put in their two cents, you will find you may have multiple titles. For example,

• If you are a developer, you might find that most people just call you a Developer.
• Others who have had you as a mentor may call you a Senior Software Engineer or even Sensei.
• The rest may call you an Engineer.

You are a person with many titles representing the many conceptions that your community has of you. You might find that people identify you differently over time.

If you really wanted that Senior part added to your title, then you would have to earn it with your community, and not just by kissing up to the boss (because there ain’t one). There likely are other ways, but in all cases the result will be a much richer and dynamic conception of identity. And it would offer an ability to interface with the Fiat world.

ENDNOTES

• Matt Perez. Meaning & Belonging Happen in Community. 2023. <https://radicalcompanies.com/2023/05/01/meaning-and-belong-happen-in-community.html>