1, #85 - Is quality possible at scale?

Estimated Read Time: 34 Seconds

Communication Complexity

I recently told someone that I’m a sucker for scale. I’m naturally drawn to big problems and prefer working on things that can have a broad impact.

But I saw an interesting analogy this week that reminded me to reconsider this:

“Large companies are like fast-food joints. You need lots of processes to create a bland product with consistent quality with average employees (you cannot have 70K employees that are all in the top 10% of the industry)

Small companies are like Michelin-star restaurants. You can hire a few top notch people and let them do their magic to create amazing things. No OKRs, no performance reviews, no BS necessary.”

Pairing this with listening to Jason Fried on Lenny’s Podcast this week, and I have to admit, I’m wondering:

Is quality possible at scale?

If you want to do something well—would it be better to keep it small?

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Insight inspired by: Erik Meijer