Stigmergy Is Magic

From Wikipedia:

Stigmergy is a mechanism of indirect coordination between agents or actions.^[1] The principle is that the trace left in the environment by an action stimulates the performance of a next action, by the same or a different agent. In that way, subsequent actions tend to reinforce and build on each other, leading to the spontaneous emergence of coherent, apparently systematic activity.

It’s kinda a synonym for self organization. Embracing intelligent agents in a way that creates a synergy.  I think of Valve’s organization structure, along with the jet engine Lab of GE, anthills and other things.

Allowing stigmergy to happen requires that certain parts of your organization embrace a flatter hierarchy. There are natural tradeoffs to the system, one of them being better accuracy at a higher price sometimes. But if you have high accuracy, getting there at possibly a higher price is well worth it.