Managing Chaos: A Mozilla Story

Program Highlights

• How to foster explosive innovation by pushing decision making to the edges of your organization.
• Why adapting to diversity in viewpoints and methods of work is critical.
• How to structure communication in a highly participatory organization.

Since its launch of the open-source Firefox web browser in 2004, Mozilla has captured 20% of worldwide market share with fewer than 200 employees, competing with Microsoft, a company nearly a thousand times larger. Mozilla achieved this by building upon the contributions of tens of thousands of coding volunteers around the world.
 
Managing what Lilly describes as a “chaordic” business model—half chaos and half order—takes a continual balancing of competing forces. While an army of outsiders gives input through every means available, final decision making for the product build is not democratic, but handled only by code writers adept at engaging the army. The need to foster and support the community competes with the time needed to settle disagreements and clear up misunderstandings. And the poetry of inspiring thousands to contribute vies with the pragmatism of keeping the organization afloat.
 
John Lilly joined Mozilla Corporation in 2005 as VP of Business Development, COO and a member of the Board of Directors before being named CEO in early 2008. Prior to Mozilla, he was founder, CEO, CTO and VP of products for Reactivity, a software company acquired by Cisco Systems. He earned a BS and MS in computer science from Stanford University.