no middle management.

how we organize

no middle management. no one assigns you work. you pick what you want to do and you do it. if something's not getting done, that shows up in retros.

offices

mutuol has three offices. they're different sizes and do different things. amsterdam is headquarters with the largest presence. the other offices operate with local autonomy but coordinate with HQ on shared infrastructure and strategy.

the executive team

mutuol has an executive team, and they have the final say on cross-cutting decisions. they handle cross-office coordination, budget oversight, and governance. day-to-day operations run locally and self-directed.

executive responsibilities:

• keeping the offices in sync
• budget approval above delegation thresholds
• tie-breaking when local consensus cannot be reached
• governance of organizational process and policy changes
• strategic planning and quarterly OKR review

teams

work happens in teams. you can be on more than one. they're not departments with org charts, just groups of people working on the same stuff. explore open positions across these teams →

how decisions get made

without a management hierarchy, mutuol relies on process and consensus to make decisions. this isn't perfect, but it's documented and it works.

for day-to-day decisions:
consensus within the team or office affected. if you're doing work that mostly impacts your local context, you decide. retros catch it when a local decision affects someone else.

for cross-team or cross-office decisions:
lazy consensus: propose the change, give reasonable time for objection, and proceed unless someone raises a block. objections require justification and an alternative proposal.

for organizational changes:
RFC-style proposals with documented discussion periods. major changes (budgeting, governance, partner policies) go through the exec team for review and alignment.

when consensus fails:
escalations route to the exec team as a tie-breaking mechanism. this is meant to be rare. most decisions resolve at the local level through retros and direct communication.

inter-office coordination

offices run independently but need to not drift apart. here's how we do that. for details on work arrangements, see our work policy.

• cross-office retros: monthly retros involving representatives from all locations. focuses on alignment, shared process issues, and coordination gaps.
• shared documentation: we all use the same wiki. if you can't find it, someone forgot to write it down.
• federal budgeting: each office has authority over its own budget up to a limit. bigger spending goes through the exec team.
• partner mobility: partners can work from any mutuol office with advance notice. the local office will make space for you.