?????? OD106: Matching team size to task ??

Curated resources on Strategy ? Org Design ? Org Development ? Adjacent fields

Starters

1 of 4 / Platforms: The 2024 Tech Strategy Toolkit

Useful post by Sangeet Paul Choudary if you want to better understand the intersection space between Tech and Strategy.

"Every company is not necessarily a tech company. But all strategy involves tech strategy.(...) technology plays an ever-increasing role in your ability to build and sustain competitive advantage.(…) this post lays out nine different forms of tech-driven advantage.

1. The interface advantage

2. The cross-subsidization advantage

3. The brand integration advantage

4. The vertical integration advantage

5. The unbundling advantage

6. The composability advantage

7. The interoperability advantage

8. The community advantage

And most important...

9. The rebundling advantage”

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2 of 4 / BCG: Platforms! Why Now?

BCG explainer about internal platforms as “shared, enterprise-wide capabilities that deliver customizable products or services that multiple business units combine to create customer value at scale, faster and cheaper.”

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3 of 4 / A Smart Bear: What makes a strategy great

Jason Cohen synthesises 6 characteristics:

• ”Simple: Reshapes complexity to be manageable and actionable.
• Candid: Dares to spotlight the most difficult truths.
• Decisive: Asserts clear decisions and accepts their consequences.
• Leveraged: Magnifies strengths into durable competitive advantage.
• Asymmetric: Defeats uncertainty with higher upside than downside.
• Futuristic: Solves for the long-term.”

Enjoyed the points about asymmetry the most, especially:

”A sign of a bad strategy is when success requires everything to go right. With a set of asymmetric bets, the successes render the failures moot, and so the unpredictable waves crashing into the boat still result in forward motion.”

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4 of 4 / Lenny’s Newsletter: How to describe your business as an equation

Lenny Rachitsky and Dan Hockenmaier share “example equations for the most common tech business models”

Main

Matching team size to task ??

Spotted a useful idea in ”The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups" book, by authors Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey and Robin Dunbar:

”Different kinds of task need to be carefully matched to group size. Failure to do so will inevitably result in inefficiencies that make the group's decision-making processes less effective.

4 people - Conversation Groups No outcome needed, discussion in the moment, everyone is involved

5 people - Fast decision-making group No facilitation needed to arrive at an outcome, no hierarchy, equal share of voice

6-12 people - Work group Facilitation needed, outcomes clear, agenda needed, processes defined, each person has defined role, each person has a share of voice (unlikely to be equal due to time constraints)

12-15 people - Complex decision-making group Facilitation or chairing, multiple perspectives encouraged to arrive at a better decision, each person to be allocated a share of voice and point of view, more formal process and agenda needed

50 people - Information sharing and sub-group work Strong facilitation, clear agenda, outcomes defined

150 people - Town Hall, information sharing and sub-group work Clear 'front of room' and facilitation needed, clear agenda and outcomes needed”

Notice how facilitation is needed for groups of 6+ people.

Author Tracey Camilleri will join the EODF Book Club co-hosted by Bülent on Feb 6th, 5pm CET. If you’re curious to discuss about the key ideas from the book, join the Book Club by registering below (free tickets):

Join the next Book Club

Dessert

1 of 2 / Worlds Unreal: The Problem With Creating Cultures Intriguing video essay (14 mins) about the issues that arise when creating fictional cultures, while worldbuilding. How much worldbuilding is happening in our organizations?

2 of 2 / Crash Course: How do Cells Communicate? Crash Course Biology Insightful video explainer (11 mins) about how “cells are in constant communication, reminding each other—and themselves—to perform important functions like breathing, walking, or even sleeping.” Lots of wisdom for organizational settings as well.

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Bon appétit!

Menu created for people who lead organizations and for those who help them do this in a better way, by learning chefs ? Raluca and Bülent Duagi ??.

As the Sense & Change team, we’re working as Strategy & Org Design advisers and facilitators for leadership teams of mid and large ???? Tech companies.

See also: LinkedIn / Personal Strategy newsletter / Affiliations: IASP, APF, EODF, IAF