F*** the system!?
Why do we spend most of our time on people, when it is the systems we are working in that are causing all our problems?
In 1967 Melvin Conway said that:
“organizations which design systems … are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.”
Consequently, looking at a company’s product portfolio on a web site will most likely reflect that company’s organizational structure, rather than focusing on what users challenges they should be solving.
So, if we just change the org.chart it will all work out right?
When Peter Drucker famously quoted “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he did not mean that strategy is unimportant, rather that culture will have a higher influence on organizational success than strategy.
Culture is the collective behavior and norms of a group of people, and the systems (incl. strategy) we are working under are intangible structures created by people that is a part of this culture.
So, whether the pain is in the org chart, company procedures or a team’s methods, saying f*** the system or just trying to change the system without working on culture, can be futile. If individuals and teams are trained to truly learn from their experiences and improve, it will influence culture, which will influence the system.
That’s why we spend most of our time on people.
