Lately I’ve been dealing with Portuguese governmental bureaucracy. ? Surely you’ve faced similar challenges in the past, so you know the feeling. ?

First lesson learnt. You cannot fight it. It’s stronger than anything. ? Nobody knows exactly how it functions (especially not folks at junta de freguesia ?). But it does and the rules need to be respected.

Don’t bother attacking the “why” behind it. Bureaucracy is all about doing what you’re told and you’ll eventually, somehow, maybe get what you need. ?

“It’s just the way the system works.”  ?️

Why I am writing all of this? To raise awareness, so that we can avoid creating non-functional bureaucratic structures and processes among our companies. ☝️

In the startup’s beginning this question may not be that big or obvious, but it gets trickier, when our startups grow. ? With 50+ employees things change – the initial flat structure doesn’t work anymore, aligning the company’s mission or conveying culture becomes harder…

We need rules and structure to avoid caos. ? But when we’re designing it we should remember that their objective is to make our startup more productive and effective, ? not vice-versa. ? Remember, we’re aiming for transparency, decision making ability and accountability, all the things every bureaucratic organisation lacks.  ✅

PS: Each company has a structure – if three’s no explicit one, the implicit one arises.?️