071: Granularity part 1 – decomposing people via ASHEN
Aug 13, 2024
auto_awesome
This discussion kicks off with clarifications on terminology to enhance understanding. The concept of granularity is explored, emphasizing the balance between broad ideas and detailed data. The ASHEN framework is introduced as a tool for breaking down roles and capabilities into actionable components. There's a dive into the nuances of team dynamics, especially the impact of losing key members. Personal anecdotes illustrate the differences between corporate environments and startups, highlighting the need for adaptability and effective feedback.
Finding the right level of granularity is crucial for balancing high-level ideas with actionable insights to avoid confusion or paralysis.
The ASHEN framework helps teams break down roles and responsibilities, fostering collaboration and mitigating risks associated with talent loss.
Deep dives
Clarifying Actants and Roles
The distinction between constraints, constructors, actors, and actants is essential for understanding systems. The hosts clarify that constraints influence systems, constructors build or shape them, and actors can be either human or artificial entities participating in these systems. This framework helps in mapping out interactions and influences within a given environment, with actants being the collective term for all these influencing elements. By breaking down these terms, clarity is established, allowing listeners to better engage with and apply the concepts discussed.
Exploring Granularity in Discussions
The podcast delves into the concept of granularity, highlighting the importance of maintaining a balance between high-level ideas and detailed specifics in discussions. It emphasizes that too much high-level thinking can lead to disconnection from practical applications, while diving too deep into details can cause paralysis. Finding the right level of granularity allows teams to engage effectively without feeling overwhelmed or losing sight of actionable insights. This idea is crucial for constructive dialogue and effective strategy development in collaborative settings.
Decomposing Roles Using ASHEN
The podcast introduces the ASHEN framework as a useful tool for breaking down roles within a team, particularly when faced with the challenge of dependency on key individuals. By analyzing aspects such as artifacts, skills, habits, experience, and natural talents, teams can better understand and distribute responsibilities across multiple members. This approach aims to mitigate risks associated with losing crucial personnel while fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing. The framework allows for the identification of overlapping strengths, facilitating a more resilient organizational structure.
The Challenge of Hiring and Retaining Talent
The discussion highlights the complexities faced by startups and small businesses in hiring and retaining the right talent, particularly when a key individual leaves. It points out the necessity for a nuanced understanding of roles rather than relying solely on generic job descriptions, as the quality and character of hires can drastically impact the organization's success. The conversation underscores the value of leveraging existing knowledge and frameworks, like ASHEN, to inform hiring decisions and maintain continuity. By focusing on what specific skills and characteristics are needed, businesses can make more strategic choices that align with their evolving goals.
Today, we start by adding some corrections to terminology we used in episode 70, which will be confusing if you haven't listened to that one. But it doesn't take long, and then we get into our main topic, which is granularity. When you work with too coarse a granularity, you can find yourself stuck or confused about what to do. When you work with too fine a granularity, you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed, drowning in data, paralysed by too many options. The magic is to find the sweet spot, where you break things down just enough to create good options for action.
We talk through ASHEN as a typology for decomposing people or roles to a more legible and actionable level of granularity, and Corissa tries it out for real with one of her old bosses.
Links
ASHEN on the Cynefin wiki: https://cynefin.io/wiki/ASHEN
Article about stages of companies vs different people's natural propensities: https://newsletter.thewayofwork.com/p/stage-fright