Value Streams vs The Org Chart

Summary

In this episode of The Value Stream Show, hosts Andrew Davis and Steve Pereira discuss the challenging process organizations face in asking what is the psychological, cultural, information, and work environment it needs to be maximally effective and engaged. They talk about how engineers are improving tech by leveraging the value stream model. They share why the act of inspiring purpose, autonomy and mastery in workers is a necessary challenge for organizations.

Host Bios

Andrew Davis is a DevOps and Salesforce specialist and author of the book Mastering Salesforce DevOps. As Senior Director of Research and Innovation for Copado, he leads methodology and training for Copado's customers and partners. He's spent his life working at the intersection of technology, psychology, and culture change, including 15 years as a Buddhist monk. He's working towards a world in which we can all be at peace amidst constant change, and bring energy, creativity, and care to every part of our work.

Steve Pereira is a veteran of software delivery and operations. He founded Visible Value Stream Consulting in 2018, and serves as a board advisor for the Value Stream Management Consortium, a contributor to the Value Stream Management Interoperability Technical Committee, and as a Value Stream Management strategist for Copado. He’s always looking for ways to bring business and technology together by facilitating visual collaboration.

What You’ll Learn

• The strengths and weaknesses of org charts and the value stream
• Activating intrinsic motivators in workers within an organization
• How to optimize around the right things
• Balancing informal networks and formal structure

Quotes

• “I think we can borrow a lot of power and alignment by leveraging something like a value stream model and looking at more horizontal organizational models. You don’t have to throw away the org chart, but add this layer of flow across it and understand that the org chart isn’t how work happens, the value stream is how work happens.” -Steve [12:19]
• “The org chart is very useful in having people understand who to go to, to get help and to improve their individual performance. I think that having a clear leader and an escalation path helps individuals feel like they have someone to go to. They have a very clear definition of relationships that they need to develop, foster and maintain.” -Steve [22:48]
• “The most common map that I see on a day to day basis is the org chart. This hierarchical structure that shows basically how people fit together and what role they are playing in the organization. It is a visualization of an invisible social network. There is agreed upon structure, but fundamentally those interpersonal relationships and obligations are invisible. We are mapping an invisible social structure to try and give form to something that is fundamentally invisible.” -Andrew [04:12]
• “The terminal units of an organization are people and each of those people need nutrients to survive. They need to get paid, they need to have clarity about what they are doing and how they can get their work done. They need to have a basis to be inspired by the mission of what their role is in the organization. It needs to be something that activates intrinsic motivators.” -Andrew [18:12]

Timestamps

[00:03] Intro

[01:07] How work actually happens

[03:28] Is the org chart outdated? 

[06:16] Making decisions based off of power

[08:23] How the org chart shapes company goals

[11:34] Retaining customer outcomes

[15:28] Optimizing around the right things

[18:27] Activating intrinsic motivators

[20:10] Shared platforms

[21:36] Strengths and weaknesses of org charts

[26:26] The Organism vs. The City Model

[29:11] The resiliency of autonomy and decentralization 

[30:22] Informal and formal social networks

[31:27] Outro