Essentials

Studio Mode is an organizational state for ambiguous, uncertain work that emphasizes synchronous communication, intensive collaboration, and creative problem-solving.

Factory Mode optimizes well-defined, routine work through specialization and standardized processes for maximum efficiency while allowing for adaptability to creative tasks when necessary.

Ineffective Iterations occur when ambiguous work is organized serially through asynchronous communication, leading to slow feedback loops, and can be resolved by shifting to direct collaboration in Studio Mode.

The Axis of Frustration describes the destructive cycle organizations fall into when they fail to switch intelligently between Factory Mode and Studio Mode, leading to ineffective iteration and wasted attention.

Fast Oscillation is a Dynamic Work Design pattern that enables organizations to quickly switch between Factory Mode for efficiency and Studio Mode for collaboration to solve problems effectively.

Wasted Attention is an anti-pattern caused by excessive collaboration and meetings that hinders productivity in well-defined work, necessitating a shift back to efficient Factory Mode.

Dynamic Work Design Patterns provide strategies for organizations to effectively switch between efficient and flexible work approaches based on current needs.

Define and measure progress by setting clear metrics and goals to assess performance and identify areas for improvement.

Focus involves limiting the number of simultaneous initiatives to enhance efficiency and quality in organizations.

The 5 Core Activities of System Design from the Flight Levels model enhance business agility by aligning strategy, coordination, and operational execution across all organizational levels.

Agile interactions enhance communication and coordination among teams in complex organizations to align efforts with goals and adapt quickly to changes.

Continuous improvement in business agility involves planning and implementing changes based on insights gained, ensuring organizations actively pursue enhancements within their workflows.

Visualization of work processes enhances understanding and transparency in knowledge-based tasks by making invisible work visible through boards that track progress and dependencies.

The Formal Structure outlines the official design of the organization, detailing roles, rules, governance, and accountability systems to ensure clarity and stability.

The Value-Creation Structure outlines how teams, processes, and resources interact to create value for customers through continuous adaptation and feedback.

The Informal Structure examines social networks in organizations, highlighting communication patterns, trust, and collaboration beyond formal reporting lines.

Three parallel organizational structures—Value-Creation, Informal, and Formal—interact to shape how enterprises function and evolve.

Enabling Functions provide essential internal services and governance to enhance an organization's delivery capability and operational effectiveness.

Customer-Facing Products and Services deliver value directly to paying customers, integrating internal functions and external channels to shape reputation and drive revenue.

Supporting Products and Services provide internal products or services that enable and stabilize customer-facing systems through shared platforms and reusable components.

Pop-Up Systems are temporary, goal-oriented teams formed to address specific challenges and dissolve after achieving their objectives.

Work System Types provide a framework for understanding value-creating constellations in organizations to enhance design and coordination.

Flight Route Patterns reveal how work moves through an organization, helping leaders improve flow, collaboration, and adaptability.

Strategic Initiative pattern outlines the flow of work from strategy to delivery, emphasizing alignment while cautioning against command-and-control risks without feedback loops.

Local Coordination involves autonomous decision-making by local teams within delivery systems, promoting fast actions but risking strategic drift if overused.

Bottom-Up Initiative involves elevating ideas from teams for validation and support while balancing the need for local action to maintain efficiency.

Cross-Level Learning involves fluid interaction between multiple levels in complex systems, emphasizing learning across boundaries and requiring intentional communication and shared purpose.

Team-Only Route allows teams to independently manage localized work, enhancing efficiency but risking siloed learning and misalignment with broader goals.

Reaction card for expressing confusion or concern constructively.

The "I observe" reaction card helps highlight patterns, anomalies, or noteworthy elements that catch attention during observations.

The "I notice" reaction card facilitates pure observation of sensory input without interpretation or evaluation.

Sounding Reactions is a structured feedback method using visual cards for quick and inclusive feedback collection during presentations and review sessions.

The "I wonder" reaction card encourages exploration and curiosity by expressing questions during presentations to expand conversations and perspectives.

Reaction card for offering constructive suggestions to improve drafts.

Quality measures in delivery include escaped defects, customer satisfaction, production rollbacks, and unplanned downtime, balancing too little and too much quality focus.

Focus on delivering changes quickly while balancing quality and prioritizing valuable features, with metrics like Time in State, Cycle Time, and Lead Time to measure efficiency.

Measure the flow of raw work product to balance demand and supply while maintaining quality and focusing on valuable features through metrics like throughput and velocity.

Resilience in development and delivery systems is assessed through a "happiness" metric, indicating potential performance declines when teams overly focus on other metrics.

Value assessment measures customer satisfaction and alignment to strategy while balancing immediate tasks and long-term goals to avoid technical debt.

Consistency in delivery pace is crucial to avoid periods of low customer value and ensure process improvement without risk.

The Six Dimensions of Performance emphasize the need for balanced metrics and processes to address complex organizational issues effectively.

Paradigms are deep frameworks that shape our perception and interpretation of problems, influencing our solutions while potentially limiting alternative perspectives.

Overview of a hub and spoke network structure, commonly used in organizations and transportation.

Practices are adaptable, experience-based approaches that help solve recurring problems in work systems and promote effective organizational methods.

Principles are foundational rules that guide decision-making in organizations, helping to adapt solutions to unique challenges.

Network patterns are visual archetypes that help teams understand relationships and information flow within a system using the Net‑Map Toolbox for mapping and intervention.

Essentials provide practical models for designing effective work systems, synthesized from various sources and mentors.

Patterns offer standardized solutions for common challenges in work systems design, enhancing workflow management and resource allocation.

Switching team members between teams promotes knowledge sharing and skill development but can disrupt continuity if not managed well.

Merging teams can enhance collaboration and resource pooling but requires careful integration of diverse team cultures.

One by One discusses how team dynamics change with the addition or departure of team members, impacting perspectives and ideas over time.

Teams grow until they become inefficient and then split into smaller teams, preserving some legacy and culture from the original team.

Isolation involves spinning off a smaller team from an existing one to focus on a specific task or project, either temporarily or permanently, for specialized attention.

Summary of five key dynamic reteaming patterns that help teams adapt to change in fast-moving organizations.

Lonesome Twosomes describes disconnected pairs of nodes that are connected to each other but isolated from other pairs, representing isolated dyads within a larger network.

Celebrating diversity through a heterogeneous network that values varied interactions and different node types or connection strengths.

The Boss Is the Boss discusses strict hierarchical structures commonly found in traditional organizations and military command chains.

Homogeneous coalitions are groups of nodes that are densely connected internally with few connections to other groups, typical in networks with factions or cliques.

Get Past the Dragon discusses the concept of a Gate-Keeper as a node controlling access and filtering information in a network.

Disconnected individuals represent isolated entities with no communication or interaction.

The Inner Circle describes a core-periphery network where a central group is densely connected, while peripheral nodes connect only to the core.

Boundary spanners are individuals in a network who connect different departments or communities within organizations.

"Everybody Holding Hands" describes a cohesive clique as a fully connected network where every node is linked to every other node, representing tight-knit groups with strong relationships.