Posts tagged with "organizational-design"

After working with various organizational models—from matrix structures to Team Topologies—I've discovered a pattern that emerges when organizations successfully implement team-based frameworks: they converge on X-as-a-Service as their primary interaction mode and evolve toward five distinct service types. This approach reduces coordination overhead, creates clear team boundaries, and enables genuine autonomy while maintaining system coherence. The fifth service type—Stewardship Services—treats enterprise design itself as a consumable service, filling a critical gap that becomes apparent at scale.

Beyond team size: How strategic pairing creates resilient, high-performing teams by establishing intentional structures that maximize collaboration and minimize coordination overhead.

This comprehensive guide helps engineering leaders identify and solve team size problems. Learn to recognize the telltale signs of oversized, undersized, and underutilized teams, then apply structured playbooks to right-size them for optimal performance. Includes practical strategies for overcoming resistance, measuring success, and maintaining team effectiveness throughout organizational changes.

The science is clear: team size is a critical factor in performance. Too large, and communication overhead crushes productivity; too small, and you lack resilience. Discover why the 7±2 sweet spot balances communication efficiency with necessary skill coverage. Learn the research behind optimal team sizing and how to address common objections from both sides of the spectrum.

This post challenges the dominance of the architectural metaphor as the primary lens for enterprise design and explores more dynamic alternatives. By examining how metaphors shape our thinking, we consider machines (emphasizing efficiency), ecosystems (highlighting interdependence), cities (balancing design with emergence), and ultimately gardening as a framework that naturally resolves tensions between structure and adaptability, control and autonomy, stability and innovation. Rather than providing definitive answers, the post cultivates questions about how shifting metaphors might transform leadership approaches, team dynamics, and organizational capabilities to better address the complex challenges facing modern enterprises.