From Agile to Radical: cross-functional teams

Few topics are as hotly debated in companies as the question of how to organize people into teams and departments. All kinds of arguments are thrown around, ranging from span of control for managers to optimal professional and personal development for frontline people. Of course, not all of these discussions are genuine and only focused on the best outcome for the company. Quite a few are driven by the personal ambitions of the individuals and the perceived implications that a particular choice of organizational structure will have for them.

The second challenge I experience in many companies is that everyone jumps on organizational design questions without a clear understanding of what that organization is supposed to accomplish and how it’s supposed to interface with other parts of the company or the business ecosystem. In this context, many years ago, together with colleagues, we defined and published the BAPO model, which seeks to address this challenge. In this model, we claim that the business and the business strategy should be defined first. These should be used to define the architecture and technology choices. These, in turn, should be used to develop the processes, ways of working and tooling. Only after these three elements are in place should we focus on the organization.