{"id":"27dee927-5c91-495e-8766-a0771058c0f9","shortId":"vZx8kb","kind":"skill","title":"organizational-design","tagline":"Design/redesign org structure and operating model: current-state map, target blueprint, transition plan.","description":"# Organizational Design\n\n## Scope\n\n**Covers**\n- Designing or redesigning an organization's **structure + operating model** to improve speed, accountability, and customer outcomes\n- Choosing between **centralized vs decentralized** models (Apple ↔ Amazon spectrum) and **functional vs divisional/value-stream** orientations\n- Reducing coordination tax by **minimizing dependencies** and clarifying **decision rights**\n- Setting management roles/layers so leaders **know the work** and can drive craft, not just process\n\n**When to use**\n- \"Propose a reorg / org design for my product + engineering organization.\"\n- \"We're slow due to dependencies—redesign teams so we can run in parallel.\"\n- \"Our UX is fragmented—should we centralize decisions or strengthen functional leadership?\"\n- \"We grew fast and added layers—help us simplify and get back to startup speed.\"\n\n**When NOT to use**\n- You need product strategy/vision first (use `defining-product-vision` or `working-backwards`).\n- This is mainly a people-performance issue (use coaching/feedback workflows, not a reorg).\n- You need compensation bands, leveling, hiring plans, or legal/HR guidance (involve HR/legal).\n- You need a single high-stakes decision process (use `running-decision-processes`).\n- You need a **full organizational transformation program** with change management, pilots, and culture change (use `organizational-transformation`; this skill produces the structural blueprint that transformation executes).\n- You need to **improve engineering practices, norms, or technical culture** (use `engineering-culture`).\n- You need to **build team culture** (values, rituals, norms) within existing teams (use `building-team-culture`).\n- You need **cross-team coordination processes** without changing the org chart (use `cross-functional-collaboration`).\n\n## Inputs\n\n**Minimum required**\n- Org context: company stage, domain, size, and which functions are in-scope (e.g., Product/Eng/Design/Data)\n- Current structure: teams, reporting lines (rough is fine), and how work is currently organized\n- Primary goals: what must improve (e.g., speed, quality, integrated UX, ownership, cost)\n- Key symptoms with examples (e.g., slow decisions, rework, unclear ownership, fragmented UX)\n- Constraints/non-negotiables (headcount, timeline, critical launches, regulatory/compliance, leadership preferences)\n\n**Missing-info strategy**\n- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).\n- If answers aren't available, proceed with explicit assumptions and label unknowns.\n\n## Outputs (deliverables)\n\nProduce an **Organizational Design Pack** (Markdown in-chat, or files if requested) in this order:\n1) **Org Design Brief** (goal, constraints, design principles, success metrics)\n2) **Current-State Map** (teams/charters, dependency hotspots, decision rights, layers)\n3) **Operating Model Decision** (centralized ↔ decentralized + functional ↔ divisional rationale)\n4) **Target Org Blueprint** (team topology + charters + leadership roles + interfaces)\n5) **Operating Mechanisms** (decision rights, planning cadence, cross-team interfaces)\n6) **Transition Plan** (sequencing, comms, staffing moves, risk mitigations, measurement)\n7) **Risks / Open questions / Next steps** (always included)\n\nTemplates: [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)\n\n## Workflow (7 steps)\n\n### 1) Define what you're optimizing for (and the constraints)\n- **Inputs:** Goals; symptoms; constraints; timeline.\n- **Actions:** Translate \"we need a reorg\" into a design problem: what outcomes must improve and by when. Pick 3–5 design principles (e.g., \"minimize dependencies\", \"one UX owner for critical journeys\", \"reduce layers\").\n- **Outputs:** Org Design Brief (draft) + success metrics.\n- **Checks:** Stakeholders can agree on the top tradeoffs (e.g., speed vs UX coherence) and what would count as success.\n\n### 2) Map the current org-as-a-system (work, dependencies, decisions)\n- **Inputs:** Current teams; roadmap/work streams; known friction examples.\n- **Actions:** Document team charters, dependencies, and decision rights. Identify dependency hotspots, duplicated ownership, and surprise approvers. Capture management layers and where managers don't know the work.\n- **Outputs:** Current-State Map + \"top 5 friction loops\" list.\n- **Checks:** The map explains most observed delays/rework with concrete dependency/decision bottlenecks.\n\n### 3) Choose an operating model posture (centralize vs decentralize; functional vs divisional)\n- **Inputs:** Product architecture/coupling; UX integration needs; talent maturity; risk tolerance.\n- **Actions:** Place the org on two spectrums: (1) centralized (Apple-like) ↔ decentralized (Amazon-like), and (2) functional ↔ divisional/value-stream. Write the rationale and guardrails (what must be standardized vs allowed to diverge).\n- **Outputs:** Operating Model Decision + guardrails.\n- **Checks:** The choice matches product coupling: integrated experiences have explicit owners; independent surfaces can run in parallel with clear interfaces.\n\n### 4) Generate 2–3 viable org options (not one)\n- **Inputs:** Current-state map; operating model posture; constraints.\n- **Actions:** Draft 2–3 options (A/B/(C hybrid)), each with team list, charters, leadership roles, interfaces, and expected dependency changes. Make management layers explicit; avoid \"people managers\" without domain/craft context.\n- **Outputs:** Options table + option narratives.\n- **Checks:** Each option states what gets faster, what gets worse, and which dependencies are removed vs merely moved.\n\n### 5) Score options and pick a recommendation (with a fallback)\n- **Inputs:** Options; stakeholder priorities; risk constraints.\n- **Actions:** Score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Pick a recommended option + a fallback. Identify \"Day 1 changes\" vs \"follow-on refactors\" and the required operating-mechanism changes (decision rights, cadence, standards).\n- **Outputs:** Recommendation + scorecard + key decisions to align on.\n- **Checks:** Recommendation is implementable: team charters, reporting/lead roles, and decision rights are unambiguous.\n\n### 6) Design the transition (change plan, comms, and safety rails)\n- **Inputs:** Recommendation; people constraints; launch calendar.\n- **Actions:** Create a phased transition plan (pilot/phase rollouts), comms plan, and risk mitigations. Define success metrics + check-in points (Day 30/60/90). Add rollback triggers for high-risk changes.\n- **Outputs:** Transition Plan + comms outline.\n- **Checks:** People-impact risks are surfaced; critical work has continuity; there's a clear \"how decisions work on Day 1.\"\n\n### 7) Quality gate + finalize\n- **Inputs:** Draft pack.\n- **Actions:** Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Finalize the pack and include Risks/Open questions/Next steps.\n- **Outputs:** Final Organizational Design Pack + rubric score.\n- **Checks:** If rubric score is low, do one more intake round (max 5 questions) and revise.\n\n## Quality gate (required)\n- Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md) before finalizing.\n- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.\n\n## Examples\n\n**Example 1:** \"I'm a VP Product at a ~200-person company. Teams are slow due to cross-team dependencies; propose an org redesign to increase parallelism.\"  \nExpected: current-state dependency map, decentralization options, target org blueprint with minimized dependencies, transition plan.\n\n**Example 2:** \"Founder/CEO: we added layers and lost speed. Help us move toward a more functional model and ensure managers know the work.\"  \nExpected: operating model decision (functional posture), layer reduction plan, leadership role definitions, transition plan with comms + risks.\n\n**Boundary example:** \"Create a reorg to justify cutting headcount.\"\nResponse: this skill is for designing structure to improve outcomes; if the driver is downsizing, involve HR/legal and clarify strategy/constraints first.\n\n**Boundary example (neighbor redirect):** \"We need to transform our company from feature teams to empowered product teams with a 6-month rollout plan.\"\nResponse: this is a full organizational transformation, not just a structural redesign. Use `organizational-transformation` for the change management program, pilot plans, and culture change roadmap. This skill can produce the target org blueprint that feeds into the transformation plan.\n\n## Anti-patterns\n\n1. **Reorg as solution to everything** — Reshuffling boxes on an org chart to solve problems caused by unclear strategy, missing product vision, or poor execution habits. Always diagnose root causes before proposing structural changes.\n2. **Dependency shuffle** — Removing cross-team dependencies in one area only to create new ones elsewhere. Every option must explicitly state which dependencies are removed vs merely moved.\n3. **Layer creep without craft** — Adding management layers where managers become process coordinators without domain knowledge. Every leadership role must be justified by the craft knowledge needed to drive quality.\n4. **Big-bang reorg** — Restructuring the entire org simultaneously without pilots, phased rollouts, or rollback triggers. Transition plans must be sequenced with continuity protections for in-flight work.\n5. **Structure without operating model** — Changing team topology without updating decision rights, planning cadence, and cross-team interfaces. 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'open':433,941 'oper':8,29,392,411,590,643,681,778,1014,1253,1274 'operating-mechan':777 'optim':450 'option':673,689,716,718,722,740,749,762,981,1179 'order':369 'org':5,83,257,267,371,402,494,524,612,672,969,983,1116,1137,1228,1270 'org-as-a-system':523 'organ':26,89,295 'organiz':2,18,193,205,356,904,1088,1097 'organizational-design':1 'organizational-transform':204,1096 'orient':51 'outcom':37,471,1048 'outlin':856 'output':352,493,566,642,715,785,852,902 'owner':487,657 'ownership':306,317,551 'pack':358,884,896,906 'parallel':103,663,973 'pattern':1126 'peopl':154,710,818,859 'people-impact':858 'people-perform':153 'perform':155 'person':956 'phase':825,1232 'pick':477,742,759 'pilot':199,1104,1231 'pilot/phase':828 'place':610 'plan':17,169,415,423,811,827,831,854,989,1021,1026,1082,1105,1123,1238,1262 'point':841 'poor':1150 'postur':592,683,1018 'practic':221 'prefer':327 'primari':296 'principl':377,481 'prioriti':751 'problem':469,1141 'proceed':345 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