I'd be interested in what the reporting structure under Forstall really is like. Jobs said Apple is run like a startup. But 1000 direct reports does seem unrealistic.

Does team imply that they must be direct reports and not have a single layer of managers? With a single layer, each manager (including Forstall) would have just 34 people to manage directly. That's somewhat the same as a teacher handling a big high school class.

Team might not imply that, but:

1,000 people who directly reported to him

certainly does.

I bet they did. I bet there were times where he went directly to staff and said, "I want you to concentrate on this" or "Now refine this" -- "and then come show it to me."

I understand what you mean, but that's certainly not the conventional definition of 'reporting to someone.'

I suppose.