Introduction to Organizational Design

Organizations have been around for at least the last 5000 years.

Humans align on common goals, create clarity over individual responsibilities, and hold each other accountable to work on what matters most.

This guide is not meant to describe all kinds of different models and their history, but rather give you simple tools for alignment, visualizing responsibilities, and accountability.

How to use this playbook

This playbook is a non-linear guide that will introduce you to norms, processes, and tools to help you facilitate the emergence of self-organized systems.

Exercises

The content is separated into educational material and exercises.

In order to learn better, we recommend following the hands-on exercises which are marked with a ⚡️ icon.

Topics

Each topic serves a different purpose in your organizational progression and can be applied anytime. It's up to you to find what suits your current situation the most.

If you are just starting out and have an idea for something that could become an organization or value-producing community, facilitate an Agile Sprint Scoping [60-90 min]sprint to run an experiment for your project.

If you are trying to make sense of your existing organization or get your community or team to align on what is happening and how, start with the Organizational Mapping [2 hours] exercise.

If you notice that your team is drifting apart and members lack alignment on the purpose of your project, it's helpful to go through the Mission Alignment exercises.

If you have a particular area of friction or need to resolve an issue that involves multiple people, explore the Recurring Process Design section.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us on our Discord.