My most recent posts pursued ideas of human self-organization and the potential value it offers as we do business.

This led me to recall an article I wrote for JP Castlin’s excellent newsletter Strategy & Praxis nearly two years ago (link provided). There is a generally available portion and more discussion for those who are paid subscribers to the newsletter.

The posts starts with a favorite quotes about the difficulty of organization from Vannevar Bush — a brilliant technical executive who oversaw US technical efforts supporting WWII:

When Eve joined Adam, there was formed the first organization in history. It was a simple one, yet its essential relations and the regulations governing it have not even today been fully worked out.
Vannevar Bush

Not to give it all away, but within the post I discuss some of the savvy ways companies have relied on how they set up their buildings to encourage a very positive self-organization. Interestingly, this is much like how a traffic circle (or roundabout) is a superb alternative to the dominance in the US of the (essentially) technocratic idea of traffic lights.

Bell Labs, the discoveries of which still power much of our modern economy, built an emergent organization. Knowing the value of interactions between scientists in different fields, they built their human organization relying on physical buildings. Scientists were given offices at one end and labs at the other. Informal interactions happened naturally as scientists walked between the two – and a three-minute accidental chat among scientists turned out to achieve more than ten hours’ worth of meetings. Steve Jobs designed Pixar’s headquarters for similar interactions.

I post this here for interested readers.

Until next time, be well.

©2025 Doug Garnett — All Rights Reserved

Through my company, Protonik LLC, I consult with companies as they design and bring to market new and innovative products. I am writing a book exploring the value of complexity science for driving business success. Protonik also produces marketing materials including documentaries, websites, and blogs. As an adjunct instructor at Portland State University I teach marketing, consumer behavior, and advertising.

You can read more about these services and my unusual background (math, aerospace, supercomputers, consumer goods & national TV ads) at www.Protonik.net. Roughly once a month, Shahin Khan and I discuss current issues in marketing on our podcast The Marketing Podcast available on Google, Spotify, the OrionX website, and Apple Podcast.