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The Zen, Art and Science of Organizational Networks

Free Your Mind And See Your Team Perform!

David KershawVP, Cloud Services

Altova GmbH

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What Is An Organizational Network?

InterestsFriendshipsQuestionsStream of thought

Team membershipResponsibilitiesDecision makingStream of action

All companies have both,

but most want to improve

this kind of network.

Social Network Organizational Network

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So, Why Is Teamwork Complicated?

What do you get when you crossa spider web with a school of

fish?

when a task is

carried outcollaboratively by

more than one

individual, the task

activities of the

various individualsalso need to be

coordinated and

integrated, further

increasing the

complexity of theteamwork effort

Familiarity, complexity, and team performance ingeographically distributed software development,

Espinosa, J. et. al., Organization Science. 18.4

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Organizational Network impact is exponential

Teams are networks

That means:

Capability goes up when you add membersTeam overhead gets crazy with size

Meet Metcalfe s Law

The PMBOKworries about this

LinkedIn likes

this!

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Think Positive!

Do not ask me again what is

already apparent in the

Organizational Network!

Organizational Networkscan be 2x as good as you think!

They help things get doneThey help us not need to do things

n(n-1) 2!!

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Beckstrom s Law

So, how great is your network?

The value added by each pair of teammatesThen sum all possible pairs

Network value must offset the high cost ofcommunication and organization

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But Remember What Didn t Happen

Subtracting negatives

results in a positive.

Simple math!

The value not lost by each pair of teammatesSum all those avoided costs

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Wait, What Avoided Costs?

Verifying informationMaking many little decisionsNegotiating uncertain situationsFinding or recreating lost itemsAsking questionsGiving work to the wrong personWaiting for inputsEtc. An organizational

network minimizes

these distractions!

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Dunbar s Number

So manylikes, so

little time

Apparently,

humans can only handle

a few social relationships

The number is roughly

150

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Let s Extrapolate!

There must be similar limits for

all kinds of information

Like tracking dozens of roles &

responsibilities across teams

But you dont have to remember

what the Organizational Network

remembers for you!

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The Allen Curve

Hold my calls,

Im in another

state!

The frequency of communication

between teammates

drops exponentially

as distance increases!

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Flip It Around, Frequency Enables Distance

Increased communication

enables greater distance

with less disengagement

An organizationalnetwork amplifies team

communication!

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So How Do We Do That?

When team members jobs are

integrated in an organizational

network everything they do is

communication!

Remove nuisance communicationUse savings for focused communicationMake the whole job collaborative

Nuisanceson slide 8!

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Put It All Together For Me!

The screenshots arefrom MetaTeam!

Some suggestions

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Small Is Beautiful

Create fine-grained teams

With specific names & limited members

To help team members prioritize

Teams as well as items of teamwork.

Try this here! Learn more here!

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Minimize Drift And Distraction

Change goals, roles & responsibilities infrequently

Let tasks, decisions & definitions change freely

So work is fluid & relationships arent in doubt.

Try this here! Learn more here!

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Reduce, Reuse And Recycle!

Lean on role conventions,

Use words that are already defined,

Store files in tasks, alternatives & responsibilities

And add new decisions to successful agendas.

Try this here! Learn more here!

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Choose Your Words

Give instructions in the most specific places,

But give feedback in aligned roles & responsibilities,

To separate doing work,

From improving how work is done.

Try this here! Learn more here!

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Thank you!

David Kershaw, PMPVP, Cloud Services

Altova GmbH

http://metateam.net