> I'm really not clear on what a mini-manager is, how a boss eliminates
> formal hierarchy and why she should do that, what advantages accrue
> and why what sounds like informal hierarchy of peer ratings are an
> improvement. Sorry to be thick but the lack of concrete example is
> making it difficult for me to grok when a mini manager in your head is
> bad and when it's just being a good colleague.
"Mini-manager" is a term contributed to this discussion through its use in a blog post by the Director of Engineering of Github. It's how he prefers to label those people who are not actually management, in a legal sense, but employees - aka workers. To question this relabeling is not necessarily to question the management function in itself, which I think is the source of your confusion. "Inner mini-manager" is a comic extension of the series: manager > mini-manager > mini-mini-manager. Picture a tiny mini-mini-manager, inhabiting the head of a worker like a chessmaster inside a Mechanical Turk, alternately barking orders and issuing praise. Bergsonian laughter ensues.
I agree that it does not naturally follow that "informal hierarchy of peer ratings are an improvement" - but that is how Valve Software, the original company under discussion is organized. It is a conventional privately-held corporation with a board and executive staff. It does not however, employ managers. Instead, there is a peer-rating system in which your colleagues determine how much value you contribute and how much you will be paid, etc.