Shadow Org Charts: Why the Official Hierarchy Is Only Half the Story
Every company has two org charts. The official one lives in an HR system somewhere. It shows boxes, lines, and reporting relationships. It is neat, hierarchical, and largely fictional as a map of how decisions actually get made. The second one exists nowhere in writing. It lives in people’s heads — in the instincts of engineers who have been around long enough to know who you really need to talk to before a proposal goes anywhere. This is the shadow org chart, and understanding it is one of the more underrated career skills an engineer can develop. ...