Phi Structure II
In last week’s post I very generally described the set-up of an empty, “blank” spherical model, composed of Phi Space. Now I will look at some of the specific mechanisms available to an organization as it works to develop the model prior to release. The goal is to map existing, legacy infrastructure and processes onto the Phi-based model. The organization controls the origin at the center of the sphere, and as such, it has tremendous ability to design infrastructure within the sphere. By taking advantage of geometry’s natural contours, legacy information and processes may be incorporated into the model in a way that clearly conveys the “objective” to the employee “players.”
Geometry is our greatest and oldest techne, and we have perfected our understanding of the sphere over millenia, from Pythagoras to Euclid and on through Newton to Einstein. The “discovery” of irrational numbers caused cultural rifts that took centuries to resolve, but we have gradually gained strategies to cope with the irrational. The sphere is governed by phi, which can be called the most irrational of numbers. In studying how phi relates the known, exact origin to the irrational shell of the sphere, humans have invested it with prodigious power. The sphere’s flexibility in conveying meaning makes it perfectly suited to undergird a fluent organizational model.
There is no limit to the environments that developers and players can co-create within the sphere, including magnetic, electrical, or hydraulic. But at the outset we will constrain our focus to simple spatial terms. While other properties will be layered onto the spatial model once the model goes live, simple balance and distributed use of space are ideal for on-boarding legacy people, networks, and data. The structures and idioms selected to present data and information to players will become the fixed assets or capital of the organization. These assets may be moved and transformed via application of currency, which is the activity of players in response to the model’s prescribed rules, constraints and rewards (internal as well as external).
“Founders” of the model (the leadership team that sets up initial model, preferably drawn from across the organization) will immediately be amazed by the spaciousness of the sphere. There is literally no end to additional space that may be added as new data, employees, customers, and markets are added. The classic first take of a new model is to assign each business unit one of the twelve main vectors of the model. In essence, traditional organizational “pillars” that are already in place and well understood may now be viewed as vectors extending away from the origin. While twelve is ideal for many large, mature organizations, this number may be made larger or smaller by subdividing or consolidating.
Each of these vectors is profitably considered a ray shaped as a pentagon. (That is, a cross section providing a snapshot of the vector may be pentagonal.) The chief executive function of the organization may retain a vector, and it also ultimately controls the origin, which is the point at the center of the sphere from which all vectors emanate. The length of each of the twelve vectors is limited by the amount of capital and currency (to be described more full in a later post) available to the organization as well as the amount that the organization apportions to each vector.
Leadership within each unit then independently arrays its tools, assets, processes and calendars within the space assigned. Because the sphere consists of 720 degrees, each of the twelve vectors may control a sector of up to 60 degrees. This use of degrees as a basic unit allows for perfect scaling, as all spheres have 720 degrees, regardless of size. It allows for normalization of work quality and quantity across the model, which is necessary for the free exchange of currency within the organization.
Each unit may choose or create a template for organizing the (up to) 60 degrees within its sector. Personnel may be arrayed, with each employee player’s Phi Unit assigned qualities such as position, weight, color, and energy. Common areas may be set up between these Units so that each player has appropriate (often equal) access. This intellectual property may be adjusted algorithmically to maximize productive engagement given the use and revision of the materials by the players. Also, the capital may be improved and transformed by the activity and contributions of players, as allowed by the developing rules. The most public functions may be viewed as the outward facing shell at the circumference, and the trade secrets and internal decision making may be retained close to the origin. (This “distance from the origin” may also be used to set security levels and permissions.)
This initial set-up process is an outstanding opportunity to consider how diverse elements of the organization interrelate. While vectors/sectors that have most in common may be placed next to each other, the model provides for intuitive points of exchange among all vectors using its network of templates derived from the platonic solids. Commonalities and distinctions among units and functions may be identified, with value adjusted as appropriate given objectives, effort, and productivity within a sector or group of sectors.
Players almost immediately gain the ability to engage in entrepreneuring: identifying an opportunity for improving the model and seeking funding in the form of capital or currency from interior points. In time, an initiative may spiral among diverse cooperating sectors on the way to public release.
In his book “Generative Emergence,” Benyamin Lichtenstein introduces “structioning” to describe the interchange of agents and digital culture:
“Structioning, which refers to a kind of co-creative interchange between the agents’ agency – the drive and motivation within the system, and the constraints of the system – the boundaries and limitations of the container itself. An example is laser light, which is formed through an interchange between the electrical energy being forced into the system, and the mirrored walls of the container which constrain that energy, allowing it to build to a threshold wherein a new high-energy form of light is produced.”
When organizations array their data, information and processes within the spherical model, and provide the opportunity for players to interact with this organizational “capital,” they create a rich virtual environment for structioning, The players may affect the Phi Structure and with other players, and in doing so, they may change their own attributes. The Phi Structure then comes to represent the “state of the art” of organizational structure and knowledge. And when this dynamic model is available to all stakeholders in real time, the organization’s mission, objectives, and progress become readily apparent, which places all players in a better position to further the shared objectives.
In other news: With @Wolfram_Alpha’s Programming Cloud, team members just gained enormous power to view and manipulate shared models http://www.wolfram.com/programming-cloud/?source=footer
Nice visualization suggesting how a firm’s origin may release new units in a spiraling manner to take best advantage of the spherical Phi Space:
The “400" section of R. Buckminster Fuller’s Synergetics, detailing the power of his isotropic matrix based on 60 degree angles compared to the more limited legacy model based on 90 degree angles:
