Five Org Design Things N° 8
Turns out it's about learning, all the way down: How basic technologies shift strategy; Microsoft's org structure research; X-Teams; building Service Design capability; democracy at work
Structure
Structure is the deepest variable in organizational life. Most everything else here points back to it.
51 posts
How your org structure is leaving millions on the table
An approach that yields unbelievable levels of productivity, driven by a focus on the work that matters most for growth. In practice, this initially feels like cheating.
Netflix, Democracy, and ~Operational Excellence
Why Netflix's approach to complexity – going all the way back to 2001 – creates better results.
Five Org Design Things N° 7
Collaboration edition! Yumemi’s org design; Collaboration is dead; Elbows of data; How to make good documents; How to run good workshops
How Internal Capabilities Evolve
Platform teams are an alternative to matrix orgs and siloed, repetitive SBUs.
Activist Presentations & Corporate Structure
TLDR: Activist investors want lean SBUs, and they don't love that matrix
Why Does DARPA Work?
A few standout practices: Opacity; Outsourcing for stronger internal networks; Deep technical reviews of ongoing programs.
The Founding Flaw of Matrix Organizing
Last year I was on a podcast with my friends at Zappi, and we got to talking about matrix orgs – there's an old bug inside the system, and it'll never go away.
Org Structure predicts Code Quality
Because of course it does. That said, here's some research you can show your boss.
Five Org Design Things N° 5
Excess management, Big-biz hiring stall, AI for organizing, Issues at Salesforce, and my thoughts on carve-outs 'n' central services.
Disruption is on Decline
I think it's because of org structure and approval processes. Implications for marketing organizations abound.
Skills Maturity Matrix + Organizational Pace Layers
People love Skills-Maturity Matrices, and with good reason – they help bring clarity to next steps and learning opportunities. We can make them better by applying Pace Layers to them. Here's how.