Operating Model Design and Home Renovation: An open invitation to help me take this analogy way too far...

We are having an extension built at the moment. For those of you who know me personally, you might be wondering what on earth possessed my partner and me to attempt this right now with a baby and a toddler in the house. At this point, I’m asking myself the same question, to be completely honest, but I’m hoping that future-me will be grateful to past-me for tolerating it when I’m not listening to my kids argue constantly over who gets the bigger room, and I don’t have to share a bathroom with teenagers.

There’s a lot to think about when you do any kind of home renovation, but living on a building site has made me think a lot about operating model design… stick with me here.

I’m a self-confessed analogy addict. I love how a good analogy can level the playing field between two people with different degrees of knowledge on a topic. I suspect this particular one has the potential to run away with me the more I think about it.

So here it is… ten ways that operating model redesign can be likened to home renovations:

1.????? There is a need to understand the current state: Before starting any renovation work, it's essential to understand the current state of the house and how ready it is for what you have planned. Similarly, in operating model design, it's crucial to assess what you’re working with to establish what is really going on, so you can plan your change effectively. Want to take out the wall between the kitchen and dining room? Well, let’s check that it’s not a supporting wall first, or the whole first floor might come crashing down. Want to change your org structure in a particular department? First, be sure of those affected roles in the context of value streams to make sure you’re not about to damage a vital process.

2.????? The role of planning permission and structural checks: Before any major renovation can begin, there’s the (stressful and expensive) phase of securing planning permission and consulting structural engineers to ensure your ideas are sound and legally feasible. This upfront design effort is critical, and in the housing world is an absolute requirement (whereas in a business, this is a matter of whether your organisation does operating model work in this way or not). This part establishes the foundation on which everything else is built, balancing ambition with safety and practicality. In my Business Design Practice, this is precisely our role. We work as the architects and structural engineers of the organisation, consulting with stakeholders about what the design needs to do or accommodate, assessing the blueprint’s stability, and identifying potential pitfalls to ensure we create a design that is both viable and aligned with broader organisational goals. In this part of the analogy, the executive team serves as the “client.” They hold the ultimate decision making authority; they can approve the design or choose not to. However, just like in a renovation, the design is the design; it’s the product of careful planning, expertise, and an understanding of what the organisation needs to be both resilient and effective. Skipping this crucial step can lead to costly problems down the line.

3.????? Planning for the unknowns: Even with meticulous planning, renovation projects always come with surprises. You might uncover old wiring, unexpected structural issues, or outdated plumbing. Similarly, in operating model design, you may uncover unanticipated challenges, such as outdated processes, hidden dependencies, or activities that were once “workarounds” and have become essential to daily operations. Just as you’d keep a contingency budget for the home renovation surprises and mentally factor in the probability of delays to avoid disappointment, in operating model design, it’s wise to leave room for the unexpected and approach these discoveries as opportunities to strengthen the final outcome.

4.????? Style vs Function: In home renovations, it’s easy to get caught up in the aesthetics, wanting everything to look perfect… but functionality is what makes a house liveable. If you’ve got small children, then matt black handleless kitchen units probably aren’t the best decision (try telling me-before-kids that though!). The same goes for operating model design. It’s not just about creating a structure that looks great on paper; it must also work seamlessly in practice. Think about what it needs to do and who it needs to accommodate when making every decision.

5.????? Context is key: It’s tempting to get inspired by someone else’s Pinterest-worthy renovation, but what works beautifully in one home may be completely impractical in another. The layout, family needs, and even the hard water status can dictate what’s feasible or effective. In operating model design, it’s similar: adopting another organisation’s model without considering your unique context can lead to a mismatch in functionality and culture. What works for a tech startup might be entirely unsuited to a healthcare provider or insurance firm. What works for one energy firm may not work for another. By all means, take inspiration from other sources, but never assume it’s the answer to your design challenge.

6.????? The importance of communicating well with your stakeholders: Renovations impact everyone living in the house, even if they’re too young to fully understand what’s going on (Atlas, my 2yo, is quite fascinated by it all, but doesn’t love the noise. At 8 months, Echo has adapted quickly and is pretty good at napping through the excavation work!). Regular updates and patience are essential to help your family live with the short-term inconvenience for the long-term benefit. In operating model design, stakeholders across departments may experience disruption or uncertainty. Keeping open lines of communication, setting clear expectations, and sharing progress can go a long way in gaining buy-in and avoiding unnecessary tension along the way. There’s probably something here about the benefits of making the builders a decent cup of tea or coffee too!

7.????? You need to be patient and flexible: Building projects and operating model transformations rarely go exactly according to plan. From delays to adjustments in scope, both require a level of patience and flexibility. Just as you’d adjust to timelines changing mid-project or make design tweaks when something doesn’t look as expected, operating model design often requires iterative adjustments to adapt to real world feedback and evolving priorities.

8.????? Considering Different Lenses: Just as a home renovation involves multiple perspectives, operating model design requires looking through several lenses to create a cohesive and sustainable design:

???? Culture and People: When a design honours the “character of the house,” things just sit a bit more easily. You can modernise, of course, but it needs to be done carefully and considerately in order not to feel jarring. In business, the culture and people in an organisation have a huge influence on how an operating model functions. This lens ensures the model feels intuitive and aligns with company values and natural ways of working.

???? Processes and Workflow: In a well designed home, everything from the kitchen layout to storage flows logically, supporting easy, efficient routines and reducing bottlenecks in high traffic areas. In an operating model, streamlined processes and workflows are essential, reducing friction so that each task flows naturally into the next. By carefully designing how things will happen, the organisation can operate smoothly and with minimal waste.

???? Technology and Data: Tech and data in an operating model is like the plumbing and electricity in a house. It’s rarely the first thing you notice, but it underpins everything, and if you aren’t updating your underlying infrastructure, then you’ll limit how modern you can be when selecting those things that you can see. When we moved into our house, we redecorated everywhere and found that we had old wiring in the front of the house. Sadly, we found this after buying matching switches and sockets with metal faceplates. So, we had to swap them for plastic ones where the wiring hadn’t been updated. There’s a huge metaphor here for digital transformation! If you want the bit that customers use on a daily basis to look and feel premium, don’t forget to invest behind the scenes.

???? Governance: In a renovation, the builders, plumbers, and electricians each bring specialised skills, coordinating their work to keep things on track and ensuring they meet safety standards. Each team member has a clear role, and (with a good setup) you don’t even really think about all of this happening. If the team isn’t working in this way, though, you can find that things might be completed in the wrong order or that areas where you need to coordinate two different skills aren’t identified early, which could lead to work being completed outside of acceptable standards. Similarly, in operating model design, considering your governance structure and information flows will help avoid conflicts or delays and ensures that everyone moves in sync towards a shared vision. Too much governance, and people will find themselves spending more time navigating it than actually getting stuff done; too little, and you’ll have uncoordinated chaos.

???? Customer Experience: In a renovation, one of the first things you would consider is, “How do we want to be able to use this space?” and the design will start there. Applying the same line of thinking to operating model design puts you in the shoes of your end user, whether that be customers, clients, or internal teams. Every decision, from process to technology, should enhance your ability to deliver for that end user.

???? Risk: Safety features, structural integrity, and future maintenance are critical considerations in a home renovation. For an operating model, risk and resilience mean building a structure that can withstand disruptions, market shifts, or internal changes. By assessing potential vulnerabilities upfront, the design includes the necessary flexibility and safeguards to protect and sustain the organisation over time.

9.????? Scalability and Futureproofing: If you know that in the future you want to do more work on the house (a future extension, perhaps? Or decorating an adjacent room), you should consider this when doing your current renovation work. Don’t do anything in a way that will make the next job harder or more expensive. Your operating model should be designed to grow with the organisation, allowing it to adapt and evolve with new technology and changes in demand without requiring frequent overhauls. With scalability and flexibility in mind, the model becomes a foundation that not only supports today’s needs but is positioned to grow and adapt alongside the organisation’s evolving goals.

10.? Don’t buy your furniture first!: The most exciting part of any renovation is choosing your furniture, right? But most people recognise that they probably don’t want all this stuff in the house while the work is being done. It’ll get dust and paint on it, and it just won’t be as fresh as you want it to be when you come to use it. There’s also something to be said for seeing your finished space and gradually introducing new pieces, rather than getting it all at the same time and finding the items crowd the space or don’t work together as well as you expected. But there’s a balance. Leave it too late, and you might find yourself in a beautiful new lounge with a three month lead time on a sofa. That’s just an anticlimax after all the effort you’ve put in! This is a lot like bringing in new skills and capabilities at the right moment in an operating model shift. Bring in people with new skills too early, and they will struggle to ‘click’ into the organisation because it simply isn’t ready for them. Bring them in too late, and decisions may have been made without their presence and expertise, which could be unwise and costly.

I’ve limited myself to 10 here, but it feels like I’ve only scratched the surface with this. What similarities have I missed?