Organizations & Hiring
Designing the organization, making the key hires, running the hiring process. Worked through with cases and models.
- 01Before a reorg, count what each person loses7 min
Every line moved on an org chart takes power, information, resources, standing or a future from someone. A loss ledger, and the order: talk, announce, switch.
- 02Seven org symptoms and the layer each comes from8 min
Reopened decisions, a boss who approves everything, new hires gone in three months. Seven visible symptoms, the layer each comes from, and the first question.
- 03Lifetime Employment Is Not a Japanese Tradition8 min
An American coined the term in 1958, large firms built it to keep skilled workers, and under one in ten had it in 2006. What a manager can negotiate.
- 04CoDMON Shut Everything Down Before the PHP Patch Landed8 min
CoDMON took every service offline 30 minutes after learning an attack could land before the PHP patch. Values only count on the day they cost revenue.
- 05The Oriental Witches, Read as an Organization9 min
Ten of Japan's twelve 1964 volleyball gold medalists were mill workers. How the Oriental Witches were picked and trained, when the team ended, what not to copy.
- 06Cool Biz: How a Nudge Changed Japan's Office Dress Code10 min
Japan dropped the office tie without a law. Practice rose from 16.4% to 46.6% in two years. What Cool Biz got right, and why new rules in Japan units die.
- 07The Marshmallow Test Failed. So Does Hiring on One Trait8 min
The 2018 replication of the marshmallow test halved its predictive power; family-background controls cut two thirds more. What it means for hiring on one trait.
- 08The 1.4-minute Shinkansen and what Japanese customers expect8 min
Shinkansen trains averaged 1.4 minutes late in fiscal 2024, typhoons included. That is the yardstick Japanese customers bring to your SLA after an outage.
- 09Pointing and calling: a check nobody can see isn't a check7 min
A Japanese railway experiment cut operating errors from 2.38% to 0.38% with pointing and calling. Why Japanese engineers insist on checks others can verify.
- 10Can foreign hires become site engineers in Japan?7 min
Daito Trust hires Uzbek graduates as site supervisors on equal terms. Whether they become core engineers depends on the path, the license and the site manager.