Driving org change
with co-design
Erin ‘Folletto’ Casali
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Manifesto Ibridi F E L L O W
DIRECTOR
PRODUCT STARTUP CONSULTANCY
SMARTER, SIMPLER, SOCIAL
BOARD
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@folletto@mastodon.social
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Why
design?
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Designers have good skills
for change management
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Listening
Good at empathizing,
listening and synthesizing
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Facilitating
Skilled in facilitating discussions
that help aligning people
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Modeling
Used in translating complexity to
simpler models to communicate
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Interfacing
Pro
fi
cient in creating interface
to in
fl
uence human behaviour
* text heavy UIs are still UIs
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We design the product.
Design Product
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Conway’s Law
Organizations which design systems are
constrained to produce designs which are
copies of the communication structures of
these organizations.
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We design the organization to design the product.
Design Org Product
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Systems
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System Thinking
We consider the whole & its relationships
instead of splitting it up
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Understanding the full system
is not possible
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“
”
Donella Meadows
Remember, always,
that everything you know,
and everything everyone knows,
is only a model
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No content
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Aim for the
best solution in
your context
Do not aim for the
ideal universal
solution
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“
”
Ursula K. Le Guin
What goes too long unchanged
destroys itself
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Change is inevitable
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Change is necessary
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Influence
circles
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Influence Circles
How di
ff
erent parts of your environment and people are a
ff
ected by your actions
Circle of concern
Circle of in
fl
uence
Circle of control
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Manage
But: keep an
eye open for
opportunities
Things outside my reach
Circle of concern
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Hey, do you feel too
our vision is too
vague and unhelpful?
EXAMPLE
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In
fl
uence
Change by
aligning
others
Things I can in
fl
uence
Circle of in
fl
uence
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Hey, do you think our
roadmaps are
effective right now?
EXAMPLE
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Own
Change by
driving an
initiative
Things I can control
Circle of control
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We should shift our
team processes to
become more async.
EXAMPLE
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Hierarchy
circles
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Hierarchy Circles
Organization
circle
Group
circles
Team
circles
A ‘circle’ is an abstraction of groups of people, information
fl
ows, and processes
in a hierarchical org structure but not strictly linked to a speci
fi
c structure
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PROCESSES
running the company,
setting vision,
direction,
fi
nancials
PEOPLE
executives,
top mgmt
AFFECTS
everyone
Organization circle
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Group circles
PROCESSES
strategy and tactic,
coordinating people,
allocating people
PEOPLE
middle mgmt,
principals
AFFECTS
a big part
of the org
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PROCESSES
scoping and
execution of work
PEOPLE
individual
contributors
AFFECTS
a single
team
Team circles
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Some changes happen
within a single circle: they
can a
ff
ect others, but
others do not need to do
anything to change.
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Most changes however
require working with or
across multiple circles.
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Change
flows
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Top down
2 • Pilot
1 • Consult
3 • Rollout
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Consult
Make sure to plan
with decision
makers and the
people involved
and a
ff
ected
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Pilot
Run the pilot
program, the
fi
rst
test to experiment if
the change works
and sticks
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Rollout
Once proven, roll
out quicker the rest
of the org. Make
sure to still check
with people
It’s essential to
highlight the
success (measured)
of the experiment to
have it adopted
more widely
Promote
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Bottom expand
2 • Champion
1 • Pilot
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Involve other peer
teams to embrace
the change,
fi
nd
new advocates to
propagate the
change further
Champion
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Bottom up
2 · Champion
1 • Pilot
3 • Promote
4 • Rollout
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In
fl
uence
1 • Ally
2 • Promote
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Sometimes to
create change it’s
necessary to
fi
nd
peer allies that can
make the proposal
more loud and clear
Ally
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Ally
Consult Pilot Rollout
Promote Champion
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Exper
iments
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Have an experimental
approach to change
Experiment to make sure things
can be rolled back: it provides safety
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What’s the hypothesis?
How it will run?
When is the review?
Keep people committed
Review as it progress
Adjust where needed
How effective was it?
Any change needed?
Do we keep it?
Keep
Revert
Repeat
Plan Run Review
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Plan
Clear hypothesis
Be clear about the problem
and the solution attempted
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Plan
Design “with” not “for”
Co-design with the people
a
ff
ected by the change
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Plan
Use artefacts
Working together on a common
draft accelerates progress
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Checklist approach to
change: write the guidance
as sequence of actions.
EXAMPLE
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Run
Kicko
f
Mark the starting point,
communicate the solution clearly
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Run
Check-ins
Review not just the changes,
but also the people commitment
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Run
Adjust (a little)
Tweak with small improvements,
leave big ones at the end
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Async, text standups
in Slack.
EXAMPLE
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Review
Retrospective
Involve everyone in reviewing
the success of the experiment
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Review
Keep
A successful experiment
makes the change stick
IF SUCCESSFUL
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Review
Repeat
Adjust the change as needed
and try again running it
IF NEEDS TWEAKING
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Review
Revert
Make note of the learnings
and move on to the next
IF UNSUCCESSFUL
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Time is your friend
Let people think and
process the change
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Time is your foe
Don’t push too hard
don’t take too long
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Process-org
fi
t
The organizational equivalent of
Product-market
fi
t
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Do people want it?
TEST
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Is the change sticky?
TEST
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Agreeing doesn’t mean executing
(sadly)
Love the idea!
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Push
backs
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A note on politics
Politics are ‘just’ humans interacting
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Most* company politics are
people thinking they are doing
the right thing and missing something
* yes, a[BLEEP]holes exist
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Lack of
Clarity
What’s the goal?
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Lack of
Shared Intent
Are we aligned?
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Lack of
Organization
What were you working on again?
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Resistances
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Inertia
Energy and time required to change
“I don’t have time”
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Fear
People worry and seeks stability
“I worry”
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Ignorance
Lack of knowledge that things could be better
“I don’t know”
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Hubris
Lack of self-awareness
“I know better”
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If pushback…
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Learn
Not just what
in the solution
didn’t work
but also about
the people’s
reactions
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Learn Wait
Let enough
time to pass
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Learn Wait Catch
The problem
will resurface:
catch the
opportunity
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Learn Wait Catch Retry
Try again
using the earlier
learnings to
adjust the aim
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“
”
Ursula K. Le Guin
There are no right answers
to wrong questions
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Thanks.
@folletto@mastodon.social
I NT E N S E MI N I MAL ISM.CO M