The Flattened Reality Of 'Flat Offices'

The ‘flat office’ once meant that the organization was more horizontal in its outlook. But now, the flat office is a hoary mess!

- Roshan Cariappa

One of the things that startups often proclaim with much pride in hiring communication is something called a ‘flat office’. Often, this is accompanied by how one can take up issues, comments, suggestions and such-like matters, if any, with CEOs of the said company, directly; the more radical ones even commit to CEO’s time over table tennis or drinks, depending on the CEO’s predilections.

It’s also in keeping with the ‘zero bullshit’ policy that many claim to adhere to, which is entirely noble in its premise, for as anyone who has worked more than 4 man hours at a more corporate setup will testify, bullshit takes up more time than actual work at some offices. Bullshit like sending mails to people in offices many miles away for use of an adaptor or want of a meeting room at a specific hour. More devious bullshit could be like the ill-conceived dance between Business and IT on matters that could range from malware to middle ware, while vendor partners contemplate the meaning of life in this interval. Enough said, fighting bullshit is a cause people can get around to backing.

The ‘flat office’ was one such measure aimed at achieving less bullshit. In principle, it meant that the organization was more horizontal in its outlook. People didn’t have to climb 3 levels of hierarchies and exchange 400 mails, back and forth, to get stuff done; you just went to the guy who could get the stuff done or was standing in between you and the stuff that needed getting done, and asked him kindly or employed more compelling methods from The Art of War.