Slide 1

Slide 1 text

Driving org change with co-design Erin ‘Folletto’ Casali

Slide 2

Slide 2 text

Manifesto Ibridi F E L L O W DIRECTOR PRODUCT STARTUP CONSULTANCY SMARTER, SIMPLER, SOCIAL BOARD

Slide 3

Slide 3 text

Slide 4

Slide 4 text

Why design?

Slide 5

Slide 5 text

Designers have good skills
 for change management

Slide 6

Slide 6 text

Listening Good at empathizing, 
 listening and synthesizing

Slide 7

Slide 7 text

Facilitating Skilled in facilitating discussions
 that help aligning people

Slide 8

Slide 8 text

Modeling Used in translating complexity to 
 simpler models to communicate

Slide 9

Slide 9 text

Interfacing Pro fi cient in creating interface
 to in fl uence human behaviour * text heavy UIs are still UIs

Slide 10

Slide 10 text

We design the product. Design Product

Slide 11

Slide 11 text

Conway’s Law Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.

Slide 12

Slide 12 text

We design the organization to design the product. Design Org Product

Slide 13

Slide 13 text

Systems

Slide 14

Slide 14 text

System Thinking We consider the whole & its relationships 
 instead of splitting it up

Slide 15

Slide 15 text

Understanding the full system
 is not possible

Slide 16

Slide 16 text

“ ” Donella Meadows Remember, always, 
 that everything you know, 
 and everything everyone knows, 
 is only a model

Slide 17

Slide 17 text

No content

Slide 18

Slide 18 text

Aim for the best solution in your context Do not aim for the ideal universal solution

Slide 19

Slide 19 text

“ ” Ursula K. Le Guin What goes too long unchanged 
 destroys itself

Slide 20

Slide 20 text

Change is inevitable

Slide 21

Slide 21 text

Change is necessary

Slide 22

Slide 22 text

Influence circles

Slide 23

Slide 23 text

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

Slide 24

Slide 24 text

Manage But: keep an eye open for opportunities Things outside my reach Circle of concern

Slide 25

Slide 25 text

Hey, do you feel too our vision is too vague and unhelpful? EXAMPLE

Slide 26

Slide 26 text

In fl uence Change by aligning 
 others Things I can in fl uence Circle of in fl uence

Slide 27

Slide 27 text

Hey, do you think our roadmaps are effective right now? EXAMPLE

Slide 28

Slide 28 text

Own Change by driving an initiative Things I can control Circle of control

Slide 29

Slide 29 text

We should shift our team processes to become more async. EXAMPLE

Slide 30

Slide 30 text

Hierarchy circles

Slide 31

Slide 31 text

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

Slide 32

Slide 32 text

PROCESSES running the company, setting vision, direction, fi nancials PEOPLE executives, 
 top mgmt AFFECTS everyone Organization circle

Slide 33

Slide 33 text

Group circles PROCESSES strategy and tactic, coordinating people, allocating people PEOPLE middle mgmt, principals AFFECTS a big part 
 of the org

Slide 34

Slide 34 text

PROCESSES scoping and execution of work PEOPLE individual 
 contributors AFFECTS a single 
 team Team circles

Slide 35

Slide 35 text

Some changes happen within a single circle: they can a ff ect others, but others do not need to do anything to change.

Slide 36

Slide 36 text

Most changes however require working with or across multiple circles.

Slide 37

Slide 37 text

Change flows

Slide 38

Slide 38 text

Top down 2 • Pilot 1 • Consult 3 • Rollout

Slide 39

Slide 39 text

Consult Make sure to plan with decision makers and the people involved 
 and a ff ected

Slide 40

Slide 40 text

Pilot Run the pilot program, the fi rst test to experiment if the change works and sticks

Slide 41

Slide 41 text

Rollout Once proven, roll out quicker the rest of the org. Make sure to still check with people

Slide 42

Slide 42 text

Mid expand 3 • Promote 2 • Pilot 1 • Consult 4 • Rollout

Slide 43

Slide 43 text

It’s essential to highlight the success (measured) of the experiment to have it adopted more widely Promote

Slide 44

Slide 44 text

Bottom expand 2 • Champion 1 • Pilot

Slide 45

Slide 45 text

Involve other peer teams to embrace the change, fi nd new advocates to propagate the change further Champion

Slide 46

Slide 46 text

Bottom up 2 · Champion 1 • Pilot 3 • Promote 4 • Rollout

Slide 47

Slide 47 text

In fl uence 1 • Ally 2 • Promote

Slide 48

Slide 48 text

Sometimes to create change it’s necessary to fi nd peer allies that can make the proposal more loud and clear Ally

Slide 49

Slide 49 text

Ally Consult Pilot Rollout Promote Champion

Slide 50

Slide 50 text

Exper iments

Slide 51

Slide 51 text

Have an experimental
 approach to change Experiment to make sure things 
 can be rolled back: it provides safety

Slide 52

Slide 52 text

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

Slide 53

Slide 53 text

Plan Clear hypothesis Be clear about the problem
 and the solution attempted

Slide 54

Slide 54 text

Plan Design “with” not “for” Co-design with the people
 a ff ected by the change

Slide 55

Slide 55 text

Plan Use artefacts Working together on a common
 draft accelerates progress

Slide 56

Slide 56 text

Checklist approach to change: write the guidance as sequence of actions. EXAMPLE

Slide 57

Slide 57 text

Run Kicko f Mark the starting point,
 communicate the solution clearly

Slide 58

Slide 58 text

Run Check-ins Review not just the changes,
 but also the people commitment

Slide 59

Slide 59 text

Run Adjust (a little) Tweak with small improvements,
 leave big ones at the end

Slide 60

Slide 60 text

Async, text standups in Slack. EXAMPLE

Slide 61

Slide 61 text

Review Retrospective Involve everyone in reviewing
 the success of the experiment

Slide 62

Slide 62 text

Review Keep A successful experiment
 makes the change stick IF SUCCESSFUL

Slide 63

Slide 63 text

Review Repeat Adjust the change as needed
 and try again running it IF NEEDS TWEAKING

Slide 64

Slide 64 text

Review Revert Make note of the learnings
 and move on to the next IF UNSUCCESSFUL

Slide 65

Slide 65 text

Time is your friend Let people think and process the change

Slide 66

Slide 66 text

Time is your foe Don’t push too hard
 don’t take too long

Slide 67

Slide 67 text

Process-org fi t The organizational equivalent of 
 Product-market fi t

Slide 68

Slide 68 text

Do people want it? TEST

Slide 69

Slide 69 text

Is the change sticky? TEST

Slide 70

Slide 70 text

Agreeing doesn’t mean executing
 (sadly) Love the idea!

Slide 71

Slide 71 text

Push 
 backs

Slide 72

Slide 72 text

A note on politics Politics are ‘just’ humans interacting

Slide 73

Slide 73 text

Most* company politics are 
 people thinking they are doing
 the right thing and missing something * yes, a[BLEEP]holes exist

Slide 74

Slide 74 text

Lack of 
 Clarity What’s the goal?

Slide 75

Slide 75 text

Lack of 
 Shared Intent Are we aligned?

Slide 76

Slide 76 text

Lack of 
 Organization What were you working on again?

Slide 77

Slide 77 text

Resistances

Slide 78

Slide 78 text

Inertia Energy and time required to change “I don’t have time”

Slide 79

Slide 79 text

Fear People worry and seeks stability “I worry”

Slide 80

Slide 80 text

Ignorance Lack of knowledge that things could be better “I don’t know”

Slide 81

Slide 81 text

Hubris Lack of self-awareness “I know better”

Slide 82

Slide 82 text

If pushback…

Slide 83

Slide 83 text

Learn Not just what 
 in the solution 
 didn’t work
 but also about 
 the people’s 
 reactions

Slide 84

Slide 84 text

Learn Wait Let enough
 time to pass

Slide 85

Slide 85 text

Learn Wait Catch The problem
 will resurface:
 catch the 
 opportunity

Slide 86

Slide 86 text

Learn Wait Catch Retry Try again
 using the earlier
 learnings to
 adjust the aim

Slide 87

Slide 87 text

“ ” Ursula K. Le Guin There are no right answers 
 to wrong questions

Slide 88

Slide 88 text

Thanks. @[email protected] I NT E N S E MI N I MAL ISM.CO M