Why do smart teams keep getting stuck?
Most “people problems” are org design problems. This book shows you how to fix those problems for good.
Inside the Book
75 patterns. Use only what you need.
You could read this cover-to-cover, but it’s better thought of as a cookbook for organizations—75 specific moves for people who run teams and systems. Redesign a team, rewrite a role, rethink a decision path, strip out pointless work. Keep it on your desk, open it when something’s stuck, and use the pattern that fits.
Bedrock principles upon which effective organizations are built. Shared purpose, transparency, trust, safety, and the distribution of power. Patterns to build up to, and to build upon, with links to the places to start.
How to shape teams, departments, and entire organizations. Autonomous groups designed for agility, interconnected units that support resilience, networks, guilds, and incentives that actually drive collaboration.
Goal-setting, decision-making, conflict, strategy, and performance. Frameworks that favor clarity and consent, and yes, sometimes consensus. How might a large organization maintain direction hourly? With these patterns.
We're not talking about process! Deep practices, instead. Retrospectives that promote continuous improvement, communication habits that build trust, and lightweight documentation that enables rapid learning and adaptation.
Continuous feedback, safe-to-fail experimentation, and proactive knowledge sharing across boundaries. How to build cultures that naturally evolve, grow, and thrive through collective learning.
The physical and virtual environments that shape daily interactions. How spaces can nurture creativity or quietly hinder it—and what to do about desks, walls, and whiteboards.
A pattern, in these pages, is a proven response to a recurrent problem in modern work. It is not a silver bullet, a full operating system, or a promise of enlightenment. Think of it more like a chess opening or a mirepoix: humble, repeatable, waiting for you to adapt it to local taste.
— from the Introduction
Who It's For
We can get more from work.
Product & Tech
Org design is infrastructure
If the structure is wrong, no amount of product strategy or AI magic will bail you out. Product and technology leaders should see org debt with the same clarity they see tech debt.
Executive Leadership
Building codes for organizations
We’re building the future, today. Do so with structural standards for authority, feedback, teams, and decisions, and watch as teams deliver more than they ever thought possible.
Design & Creativity
Institutions deserve design craft
The same level of care that designers and artists put into their work should also go into the systems where people spend their working lives. This book offers a way into that conversation.
HR & People
From program shop to architecture office
HR holds the keys to so much goodness, but is often trapped in compliance theater, or asked to leave when the conversation becomes strategic. Why not prioritize design even over control?
Praise
What people are saying
“Reading Hidden Patterns is pure joy. It’s the most Clay thing ever (in the best possible way).”
“If A Pattern Language was for buildings, Hidden Patterns is for the invisible architecture of work. It’s radical, useful, and long overdue.”
“Most management books offer theory; Hidden Patterns offers transformation. It empowers anyone to make practical, concrete changes that yield tangible results and elevate every dimension of work—from revenue and profit to meaning and satisfaction. Leaders can’t change everything at once: instead, Clay helps leaders pick their first step and then recommends potential next steps to guide the reinvention of their organization.”
“Hidden Patterns is the rare book that actually changes how large organizations work. Clay’s ideas helped my teams cut through complexity, build trust, and deliver results that last.”
“Tech companies settled on ‘agile’ and the squad model 15 years ago. At the time, we were the ones changing how big businesses organized to get shit done. But we stopped innovating, and it’s not good enough. Hidden Patterns offers a framework that lets you continue to iterate on the way you organize.”
“Hidden Patterns outlines powerful building blocks to enable teams to work, think, and create more effectively together, which can be used individually or connected to create holistic organizational systems. This book is perfect for leaders seeking ways to create clear direction or organizational development professionals geeking out on practical tools that actually work. Keep this one within arm’s reach—you’ll return to it again and again.”
“Modern work is here. The companies that will thrive are the ones that keep customers at the center and create environments where great people can do their best work together. Leading transformation isn’t easy. Clay’s proven approach, laid out clearly in Hidden Patterns, gives you the tools and systems to lead meaningful change and help your team do their best work.”
Pattern Pulse — The Global Study
Not many business books are measurable. This one is.
A global research initiative tracking which organizational patterns correlate with performance—measured annually. Five minutes of your time helps build the picture for everyone.
survey.hd-pt.com · Anonymous · ~5 min
About the Author
Clay Parker Jones
Fifteen years redesigning organizations from the inside out. Co-founder of August, an organization design consultancy. Current Head of Org Design at Airbnb. Track record doing real structural work for tech-powered, creativity-driven companies. Lives in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.
cpj.fyi
Get the Book
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