Clay Parker Jones

Clay Parker Jones

I lead Organizational Design at Airbnb. Previously: August, Undercurrent.

Speaking

The Founding Flaw of Matrix Organizing

Last year I was on a podcast with my friends at Zappi, and we got to talking about matrix orgs – there's an old bug inside the system, and it'll never go away.

Jan 11, 2023 4 min read
Radar

Shopify's Meeting Diet

Shopify cancelled 76,500 hours of meetings. I think that's great.

Jan 9, 2023 3 min read
Five Things

Five Org Design Things N° 5

Excess management, Big-biz hiring stall, AI for organizing, Issues at Salesforce, and my thoughts on carve-outs 'n' central services.

Jan 8, 2023 5 min read

The Great Managerial Transfer

The coming transfer from hierarchies of individuals to networks of teams, an exploration of executive comp, and a look back to the 1950s.

Jan 6, 2023 4 min read

Disruption is on Decline

I think it's because of org structure and approval processes. Implications for marketing organizations abound.

Jan 5, 2023 4 min read

Are.na's About Page

Are.na is a place to collect content and work on ideas in private or with others – and their About Page is as good as I've seen.

Jan 3, 2023 1 min read
Radar

Skills Maturity Matrix + Organizational Pace Layers

People love Skills-Maturity Matrices, and with good reason – they help bring clarity to next steps and learning opportunities. We can make them better by applying Pace Layers to them. Here's how.

Dec 6, 2022 4 min read
Essays

Centralization (For Marketers)

Centralization isn't a good thing or a bad thing. It's a pendulum that swings back and forth, and the key is to centralize and decentralize with intention. And to learn from what you've done.

Nov 30, 2022 5 min read
Essays

Pace Layers for Organization

Pace Layers help visualize, distinguish, and discuss different kinds of work and teams within an organization. Here, I bring together a bunch of great thinking into a single construct. Enjoy!

Apr 26, 2022 4 min read