Horizontal Practices FAQ

Frequently asked questions about horizontal practices, based on common confusion points and team discussions.

Core Concepts

Q: What does “horizontal” mean at Cadence OneFive?

A: Horizontal means we operate without traditional supervisors or hierarchical management. Everyone is a “manager-of-one” responsible for their own work while collaborating closely with teammates. It’s NOT about working in isolation or doing whatever you want - it’s about self-management within a collaborative team structure.

See also: Horizontal Practices Overview

Q: Is horizontal the same as “flat” organization?

A: Similar but not identical. Flat organizations minimize hierarchy but may still have some management layers. We’re truly horizontal - no one reports to a supervisor. Instead, we use structured processes like the consent process and work plans to coordinate and make decisions.

Q: Does horizontal mean everyone does whatever they want?

A: No. We negotiate responsibilities, have clear expectations, and coordinate closely. Think of it as organized collaboration, not chaos. We have:

Product specifications and acceptance criteria
Consent stakeholders who must agree changes are “safe to try”
Negotiated work plans with clear deliverables
Shared accountability for team outcomes

See also: How We Make Decisions, Community Norms

Decision Making

Q: How do I know if I can make a decision myself?

A: Use this framework:

Your call: If it doesn’t affect others’ work, fits current strategy, and is easy to undo
Consent process: If it affects others, falls outside strategy, or is hard to undo
When in doubt: Ask teammates to sanity-check which category it falls in

Consent stakeholders: People whose work is so intertwined with yours that they get veto power. The decision must be revised until all consent stakeholders agree it’s “safe to try.”
Advice stakeholders: People with valuable insights but whose work isn’t directly affected. They provide input but can’t block decisions.

Example: If you’re redesigning the API, other engineers using it are consent stakeholders. The sales team might be advice stakeholders - their input is valuable but they don’t have veto power.

Q: What does “safe to try” mean?

A: It’s our consensus model. Unlike “disagree and commit” where someone forces a decision, we adjust the scope, duration, or safeguards of a proposal until everyone agrees there’s no reason NOT to try it. We might:

Limit the trial period (“let’s try for 2 weeks”)
Reduce scope (“let’s start with just one feature”)
Add safeguards (“we’ll monitor X metric and stop if it drops”)

See also: How We Make Decisions

Q: Can someone be empowered to own decisions in a specific domain?

A: Yes! We can authorize someone to make decisions about a particular area (e.g., “You own the testing framework decisions”). This must be explicitly negotiated and agreed upon by affected stakeholders.

Work Plans & Performance

Q: What is a work plan?

A: Your self-authored document articulating what success looks like for you. It includes:

Your priorities and how you’ll measure success (specific goals, not just activities)
How you’re splitting your attention/effort across different responsibilities
Skills you want to develop
Where you need support from others
Who your consent and advice stakeholders are
How your work ladders up to company quarterly goals

It’s a living document that can change as needed. New hires create their first draft within 30 days as part of onboarding. The work plan is your proposal in a consent process - you’re telling colleagues what success looks like for you and negotiating mutual support.

Example allocation: “60% on product development, 25% on customer support, 15% on process improvement” - this helps stakeholders understand your capacity and availability.

See also: Performance Management, New Hire Guide

Q: How does career progression work without managers?

A: You drive your own progression by:

Writing a new work plan with expanded responsibilities
Getting it approved by your consent stakeholders
Executing on those new responsibilities

Example: If you want to move from mid-level to senior engineer, you’d update your work plan to include senior-level responsibilities, get stakeholder agreement that it’s “safe to try,” and then you have a new role.

See also: Performance Management

Q: What if I feel presumptuous about promoting myself?

A: This is a common feeling! Remember:

It’s not presumptuous - it’s taking ownership of your growth
Your consent stakeholders will negotiate with you if the timing isn’t right
The process is collaborative, not unilateral
We expect and encourage people to evolve their roles

Q: How do 360 reviews work?

A: Every 3-6 months, you:

Update your work plan and summarize wins/challenges
Send a questionnaire to stakeholders for feedback
Hold a meeting to present your self-assessment
Incorporate feedback into your updated work plan
Get final consent from stakeholders

You own this process - you schedule it, run it, and drive it.

See also: Performance Management, New Hire Guide (for onboarding 360s)

Team Collaboration

Q: What does “no one is your boss” really mean?

A: It means no one has traditional supervisory authority over you, BUT:

You have consent stakeholders whose success depends on yours (mutual accountability)
You have peers and senior team members who collaborate and help
You may have an onboarding guide or internship sponsor who supports you
Someone may approve your timesheet for administrative purposes

All these people support and coordinate with you, but none direct or control your work. You’re accountable to the team and your commitments, not to a supervisor.

See also: New Hire Guide, READMEs (to learn about your teammates)

Q: Does horizontal mean I work alone?

A: Absolutely not. You’re part of a team with shared goals. We:

Pass work between teammates like a relay race
Have consent stakeholders whose success depends on yours
Collaborate constantly, just without a supervisor directing traffic
Negotiate responsibilities together

Think basketball without a coach on the court - players coordinate directly with each other.

Q: How do we coordinate without managers?

A: Through:

Work plans: Clear about who’s doing what
Consent stakeholders: Natural coordination points
Consent process: Structured decision-making
Regular meetings: Standups, retros, team meetings
Working in the open: Sharing progress in chat, demos
Negotiation: Discussing and agreeing on who does what

Q: What if I need help or direction?

A: Ask for it! We expect people to:

Be “greedy in asking for help”
Be “verbose when struggling”
Reach out to teammates early and often
Use the consent process for decisions
Leverage consent stakeholders for alignment

Not having a manager doesn’t mean you’re on your own. New hires get an onboarding guide who meets weekly and helps navigate horizontal practices (but they’re not your boss - no one is).

See also: New Hire Guide, Restorative Conversations (when things get difficult)

Onboarding & Integration

Q: How does onboarding work without a manager?

A: You drive your own onboarding with structured support:

Onboarding Guide: Meets weekly, helps navigate horizontal practices (not your boss)
Monthly 360 Reviews: During first 3-6 months to ensure fit and progress
Work Plan Development: Create your success definition within 30 days
Clear Milestones: Day 1 contribution goal, 30-day work plan, 60-day ownership, 90-day independence

The key: You’re the star of your onboarding show. Everyone else is a resource to help you succeed.

See also: New Hire Guide, Software Engineer Onboarding (for engineers)

Q: What’s the “double opt-in” system?

A: Both you and the company must actively choose to continue at monthly checkpoints during onboarding:

You can opt out: Leave with no prejudice and 2-week severance after transition
Company evaluates fit: At 30/60/90 days, stakeholders must opt-in to continue
Transparent communication: Your onboarding guide tells you where you stand before each 360

This ensures mutual fit rather than forcing either party to continue when it’s not working.

See also: New Hire Guide (full details on double opt-in process)

Q: What are signs I’m succeeding in horizontal culture?

A: Good fit looks like:

Making helpful contributions from day one
Proactively grooming tasks for early wins
Asking insightful questions showing you’ve done homework
Contributing to knowledge base and culture
Making proposals and engaging in advice processes
Your contributions are visible to the team

Q: What are warning signs it’s not working?

A: Watch for:

Working hard but contributions aren’t visible
Lots of free time, waiting for direction
Not working at your best or feeling excited
Complaining without feeling empowered to fix things

Critical: “Do not wait, hoping it will get better” - raise concerns immediately with your onboarding guide or trigger a 360 review.

Practical Application

Q: How do we explain horizontal practices to candidates?

A: Focus on concrete benefits and expectations:

Benefits: Ownership of your work, outcome-based (not hours-based), self-directed growth, no micromanagement
Expectations: Self-management skills, comfort with ambiguity, proactive communication, collaborative negotiation
Screen for: Experience working autonomously, scoping own projects, comfort without constant direction

Avoid abstract philosophy - give specific examples of how it works day-to-day.

Q: Does horizontal work for contractors and interns?

A: Contractors: Actually, contractors are by definition managers-of-one! They:

Come in with a defined scope to deliver
Have internal customers who act as consent/advice stakeholders
Self-manage their work (if they didn’t, they wouldn’t meet the legal definition of independent contractor)
Already operate horizontally - they negotiate deliverables, manage their time, and coordinate with stakeholders

So contractors naturally fit our horizontal model. The main difference is their engagement is typically project-based with predefined outcomes.

Interns: Have a structured program designed to cultivate manager-of-one skills:

Internship Sponsor: A dedicated point person who meets weekly and helps define educational goals
Internship Plan: Required document articulating learning, contribution, and professional growth goals
Regular 360 Reviews: At 2-week, mid-point, and end of internship to assess progress and gather feedback
Gradual Autonomy: Start with more guidance, build toward independent contribution
Educational Focus: Explicit focus on learning to be an effective manager-of-one

The intern program is specifically designed to teach horizontal practices while providing appropriate support. As stated in our guidelines: “We want to ensure you are set-up to grow, contribute and have a great experience, and that includes helping you adopt good habits for outstanding individual contributors (‘managers of one’).”

For anyone new (contractor, intern, or employee): The first 2-3 months involve more guidance while learning our specific context, codebase, and domain knowledge. As noted by Francois in meetings: “The person doing the job has the most information about whether they’re doing the best job they can do” - but this isn’t true for the first few months when others have thought more deeply about the work.

Q: How does this scale beyond a small team?

A: As we grow:

Teams become like boats in a rowing regatta - small units coordinating toward shared goals
Work plans and stakeholder relationships maintain alignment
Advice process scales through clear documentation
Teams may specialize but still coordinate horizontally

We’re currently ~12 people. Companies like W.L. Gore (Gore-Tex) have operated horizontally with thousands.

See also: Open Books (transparency at scale)

A: If it feels too informal, you can:

Request a more formal proposal document
Ask for a meeting to discuss
Volunteer to be a consent stakeholder if affected
Suggest a longer discovery/debate period

The process should match the decision’s complexity - don’t hesitate to ask for more structure when needed.

Common Misconceptions

Q: “Horizontal means no accountability”

A: False. We have MORE accountability because it’s peer-to-peer. Your consent stakeholders depend on you delivering.

Q: “Horizontal means endless consensus-building”

A: False. Many decisions are “your call.” Even with the consent process, we aim for “safe to try” experiments, not perfect consensus.

Q: “Horizontal means no specialization”

A: False. People develop deep expertise. We just coordinate horizontally rather than through hierarchy.

Q: “Horizontal only works for small teams”

A: False. While coordination patterns change with scale, horizontal principles work at any size. Some companies have operated this way for decades with thousands of employees.

Getting Help

Still confused about something?

Post in #horizontal-culture
Bring it up at the monthly Horizontal Practices meeting
Add it to the retro topics for discussion
Ask your consent stakeholders for clarification
Remember: We’re all figuring this out together!

See also: Meetings (for meeting practices), How to Work in the Open

This FAQ is a living document. If your question isn’t answered here, please ask in #horizontal-culture channel and help us improve this resource.