Know Your Company’s Anatomy: Part I

Anatomy of a country

Like people, every company will have its personality, but they all tend to have the same basic building blocks. At a technology company, eLike people, every company will have its personality, but they all tend to have the same basic building blocks. At a technology company, engineers may tend to have a self-centered view of their place in the corporate universe. However, it’s essential to understand that engineering is just one part of the company. Some parts are just as crucial to its success. “The first step is to figure out our company’s structure by using an organizational chart. Look on the corporate intranet for something that looks like the following organizational chart and use that to understand the discussion. Since we discussed the engineering organization in the previous lesson, Know Your Colleagues, that one group is not covered in the organizational chart below:

Along the way, we’ll include conversation starters that can help break the ice with people in other departments. If you’re naturally social, you won’t need them. In all cases, improvise away.

Administrative assistants

This isn’t an organization per se but rather a role that shows up in many departments. The assistants are assigned either to busy executives or to groups. They handle all kinds of assignments, such as scheduling, event planning, answering/placing phone calls, booking travel, and much more.

These are people we need to know because they can help with all kinds of stuff when we are stuck in work. Need to file an expense report but can’t figure out how to submit our ...