Management style doesn't predict survival

I’ve worked in startups with different management and product development styles.

With mandatory reports and without them.
With task trackers and without them.
With required office presence and fully remote.
With long-term planning and decisions made on the fly.

Often processes develop around a leader’s idea of what normal work should look like. Some find offices, reports, and tight syncs natural. Others deliberately choose remote work, flexible schedules, and asynchronous communication. Breaking the system into many independent parts might seem like the only healthy path even early on. Keeping everything in one codebase might seem like the only way to move fast. These beliefs are fueled by past projects, positive outcomes, and success stories they’ve observed. Each genuinely believes their setup is normal and can list dozens of reasons why their approach is right. That’s why changing these views is hard.

Different ways of working become different worlds, and each world seems uniquely stable to those within it. But I’ve seen successful projects in each of these worlds — and failures too. No management or product development style guarantees survival or failure.