Braintrust
John Lasseter created the Braintrust at Pixar by accident. It started out with four other people who were driven and passionate about the films they were working on. This created intense discussion in the group. They went through three films together, slowly adding more people to their . It was powerful to have each person sharing notes with each other. It worked so well because there was no director. No one came into the room in an authority position so no one was in a defensive position. One central element of the group was it's candid culture. No one held back. The big focus for the manager in a was not to look at the problem, but at the dynamics of the room — if you can manage the room dynamics the people will solve the problem themselves.