Interlude - Index of

154 | Grown-Up Company
debate about NAS and SAN, open to the entire company. “But
the decision has already been made,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Andy replied, “What matters is that
everyone in the company hears all of the issues that we considered
in making this decision.”
We had the debate, and even though everyone knew that
the outcome was predetermined, the debaters didn’t hold back.
Four anti-SAN people made their best cases against (the exact
same arguments that they had used before we made the decision),
and four pro-SAN people made the case in favor. I had
been anti-SAN, but I decided not to argue that side, because
the symbolism of a co-founder arguing against the decision in
public would be too strong. Instead, I was the moderator.
I don’t know whether the public debate actually changed
anybody’s mind, but many people told me that it made them
much more comfortable with the decision. Allowing the anti-
SAN people to make their strongest case in public made
it clear that we had made the decision with our eyes wide
open. It is tempting, after a decision like this, to whitewash
the debate and pretend that everyone agreed all along. Our
approach worked better in the long run.
••
Companies periodically face the question of whether to expand
their market focus. If your current market is large enough or
growing fast enough, then you may have no need to broaden.
This was my argument with respect to NAS: it was growing
fast and I expected that to continue. However, there is a second
reason to broaden your horizon, which is that your market