Just FYI, John, this is one of my all time favourite posts from you. But I always struggle to find it because the title doesn't have Drives, Floats or Constraints in it.
First time reading this and BOY do i agree! I know John is a fan of Rumelt's good strategy /bad strategy, and this post essentially boils down to FOCUS for me. I think many are aware of John's 4 elementd, though often subconsciously. Very few are both aware AND able to articulate and use all 4 and tackle them head on.
I think it's connected to being able to navigate the design space - the same abstract space that helps you: renovate your living room, design an organization to be better fit for purpose, or design a role (e.g. role crafting)
I've been using for example the following 'design space' elements:
1. Desired outcomes (similar to drivers) - connected to various stakeholders of the endeavor (e.g. for the living room renovation: parents, kids and people visiting might have different desired outcomes that you'll want to take into account)
2. Constraints (containing limiting constraints, floats - defining an area of flexibility constraints to infinite areas of possibilities, enabling constraints. A specific kind of constraint - which can be limiting, floats or enabling - are links that you decide to take into account and how strong/weak are those links)
3. Principles (the underlying philosophy of the endeavor) - connected maybe to cultural elements linked to the people that are part of the endeavor (e.g. for the living room: being open-minded to new solutions, or not making structural changes and keeping the future options open, or reaching a new design for the living room by consensus)
4. Testing criteria & test types - how will you know that your design will achieve the desired outcomes, taking into account the constraints and following the principles? (e.g. in org design there are various test types, like stress tests in the form of: "if the business grows 200% YoY, will this design still be fit for purpose?")
Inspired by your article, I'll write a dedicated article about this as well (with some visuals). Thanks for sharing!
Just FYI, John, this is one of my all time favourite posts from you. But I always struggle to find it because the title doesn't have Drives, Floats or Constraints in it.
First time reading this and BOY do i agree! I know John is a fan of Rumelt's good strategy /bad strategy, and this post essentially boils down to FOCUS for me. I think many are aware of John's 4 elementd, though often subconsciously. Very few are both aware AND able to articulate and use all 4 and tackle them head on.
Excellent explanation, John!
I think it's connected to being able to navigate the design space - the same abstract space that helps you: renovate your living room, design an organization to be better fit for purpose, or design a role (e.g. role crafting)
I've been using for example the following 'design space' elements:
1. Desired outcomes (similar to drivers) - connected to various stakeholders of the endeavor (e.g. for the living room renovation: parents, kids and people visiting might have different desired outcomes that you'll want to take into account)
2. Constraints (containing limiting constraints, floats - defining an area of flexibility constraints to infinite areas of possibilities, enabling constraints. A specific kind of constraint - which can be limiting, floats or enabling - are links that you decide to take into account and how strong/weak are those links)
3. Principles (the underlying philosophy of the endeavor) - connected maybe to cultural elements linked to the people that are part of the endeavor (e.g. for the living room: being open-minded to new solutions, or not making structural changes and keeping the future options open, or reaching a new design for the living room by consensus)
4. Testing criteria & test types - how will you know that your design will achieve the desired outcomes, taking into account the constraints and following the principles? (e.g. in org design there are various test types, like stress tests in the form of: "if the business grows 200% YoY, will this design still be fit for purpose?")
Inspired by your article, I'll write a dedicated article about this as well (with some visuals). Thanks for sharing!
Bülent Duagi