On the positive side, I was given a "free hand" to operate my teams based on my best judgement. The problem is, so were my colleagues and my managers (and their managers). And, there are only the poorest of feedback loops established for monitoring the health of the culture and the happiness of team members. The big reform during my decade at JPMC: We went to an employee "pulse" survey every year, instead of every three years.
The scale and tradition of JPMC is both a strength and a weakness. During my years there, I came to admire the resilience of an organization which has lasted over two centuries. A colleague's retort stuck with me: "Big, dumb and slow worked for the dinosaurs, too."
There is a tremendous amount of waste at JPMC, at both small and large scales. Much of the wasted effort, including failed IT projects amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, is due to failures in communication and coordination. The Operating Committee recognizes this and is trying to change the firm's culture. However, the culture is very resistant.
My favorite story of the resistance of the culture is the young woman who explained to me that she used to be a business analyst who wrote 200-page requirement documents for a development team. But three years ago, she proclaimed proudly, she became a Scrum Master for an Agile Team. I asked about her job responsibilities as a Scrum Master: "I run a daily meeting, and I write 200-page requirement documents."
