There are a lot of misconceptions about Holacracy at Zappos. I would encourage you to not stop at one article or commenter here trying to shoot holes in Holacracy. I'm not saying it was embraced by everyone at Zappos or even the David Allen Company, but at least with Zappos, some staff left around the time Holacracy was introduced because of a volunteer severance program designed to weed out employees who weren't committed to staying.
Kelly, I think a lot of people are naturally mistrustful of management philosophies/methodologies because, like me, they've suffered through bungled roll-outs of whatever was the latest managerial fad at the time. Although, again, I think a lot of the problems I've lived through have been attributable to incompetent leadership, a culture that wasn't ready for change, or a combination of the two.
For example, I was working at a radio station some 25 years ago when the organization decided to implement TQM. At the time I was a part-time reporter, announcer and master control operator. I remember being subjected to endless meetings about "benchmarking" initiatives and discussions about "KRAs" and lengthy efforts to draft a mission statement... all the while, our radio station continued to do suicidal things like air the wrong programs because someone put the wrong satellite channel in the feed list for a particular time slot. Or like continuing to use worn-out tape reels (this was back when tape was still a thing, folks) that distorted the sound to the point of unintelligbility no matter how often we begged people to get new reels, forcing master control operators on the fly to decide between continuing to air a program that was literally distorted to the point of being unintelligible or finding a substitute program even though we weren't supposed to be making such decisions. The very things that TQM was designed to correct weren't corrected because there is no strategy, philosophy, approach or methodology that can't be misapplied by those who overestimate their own competence.
Ultimately I think it's because leadership is a misunderstood skill that isn't properly cultivated in those with leadership positions. But that's outside of the scope of this discussion -- or at least beyond what I have the time or inclination to discuss. But I think it helps explain why so many of people, myself included, are suspicious of things like Holacracy.
The reason why I'm keeping an open mind is twofold. First it's because, as I said, I used to be a journalist and I know from experience that journalists are under pressure to find stories that are big, or at least interesting. And while I've rarely encountered journalists who intentionally distort facts to advance their careers, I've known many, myself included, who have unconsciously succumbed to the temptation to sensationalize. Think about it this way: the idea that Holacracy at Zappos has been a disaster is a far sexier story than one in which Zappos is trying a major transformation and like any such effort, it's run into hiccups and the jury's still out. I'm not saying one or the other is true -- I'm just trying to point out the realities that journalists face, and why we should be critical consumers of media, even respectable outlets.
The second reason I keep an open mind is because of the number of times I've discussed GTD in online forums where people have declared the methodology to be bunk because: you can only have one action per project; you must link actions to projects; you must never link actions to projects; it's only for managers because it's all about delegation; it's not for demanding tasks because next actions can only be quick; it requires you to stick your left foot in a bucket of oysters at 5 am every Tuesday, face east, and sing "Alleluia" at the top of your lungs; and other demonstrably untrue statements that people refuse to let go of because, hey, why believe something true that requires you to change your mind and perhaps learn something?
I'm not saying Holacracy is good or bad -- just that I think GTD gets an unjustifiably bad rap in some quarters, and for that and other reasons I've learned to be skeptical.
