Warby Parker is a very trendy eyewear company started in 2010. The young founders of the firm all attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and started the venture with just $2,500 in seed money. Today, the company is valued at over $1 billion. The business model is primarily prescription glasses sold online and in a few on-site boutiques in the United States and Canada. They even have a “try it at home” approach where customers can receive five frames free of charge for five days to see which frame they like best. Like any growing company, there are always big and small issues for employees to tackle. But how can employees know which projects are most important for the company’s success or will be highly valued by management? Warby Parker recently instituted Warbles that does just that. Warbles permits all 800 employees to help determine which projects should be addressed first. As projects are developed, managers assign points to the projects they think are the most important for the company. Next, associates can choose among those projects: whichever one they like or have the necessary skills to address. If they select and complete the projects that have the most points, they are rewarded. Individuals and teams collect points as they choose one project after another. Finally, each quarter, the team with the most points wins a prize, such as a free dinner for the team. Before Warbles was introduced, some projects sat untouched for weeks or even months. Other projects were completed quickly, but they added little value to the company. Also, in many cases, employees had little say in which projects they were assigned. According to co-CEO, Dave Gilboa, Warbles “ensures that we’re getting a lot of Value” and that employees are “much happier; they love the idea that they have autonomy and they can select ideas that they find most interesting.”

1. What challenges do you see with Warby Parker’s use of Warbles? How can the company overcome these challenges?

2. Compare and contrast the Warbles system at Warby Parker with what you have learned in this chapter about delegation.

3. Within what kinds of companies would Warby Parker’s Warbles system work best? Within what kinds of companies would it not work? Explain your answers.