Your CEO Should Sit In The Same Pod As Your Product People

I’m a big believer in having a product driven culture over suits and finance people making decisions.  Zuck promoted Bret Taylor to CTO today at Facebook, which I think is a really smart move.  I read an internal email that was sent to everyone from Zuck, and something stuck out at me:

…Although, to be honest, Schrep, Cox, Bret and I all sit in the same pod so you can pretty much grab any of us at the same time.

That’s right, the CEO sits with the product guys and the CTO.  Not by himself and certainly not with a bunch of traditional “managers”.  Companies stay great by having their leader right next to the product.  This fact alone makes me even more bullish on Facebook for the long term.