Leadership's Ability: Systems Design and Management

The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.
– Peter Drucker, quoted by David Cooperrider in the foreword to The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change By Diana D. Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom

This is the ultimate goal of systems design and management. To create and terraform the environment in such a way that it leads to a more resilient ecosystem... one that strives for antifragility. We will view systems management across five characteristics:

• Intended effect radius
  • Self, Squad, Guild, Department, Company
• Clarity of purpose
  • Why does this matter? How will we be better? What needs are we aiming to meet? \ These are questions that you and everyone impacted by the system is aware of and can answer.
• Structure
  • Active systems:
    • Trigger
    • Routine
    • Response
  • Passive systems:
    • Crafting the environment in such a way that it offers the Means, Motive, Opportunity to achieve the outcome we desire
• Outcome
  • Is it accomplishing the discrete improvement it set out to accomplish?
  • How self-sustaining, habit-forming, and operationalized is the system?
• Inter-relatedness
  • How do systems interact with one another. What are the second and third-order impacts of a system

We will measure these using a Milestone calculator (example here)

This ability is in many ways codependent on a trio of Abilities, referred to as the Exponential Trio (Goal Setting, Systems Management, and Sense-&-Respond). So named because when applied together they are intended to have not just an additive or multiplicative impact on the success of a team… but an exponential impact.

1. Sense there is an unmet or under-served need (with process or product)
2. Turn this sense into a hypothesis (an impact or outcome goal) while bringing others along
3. Identify the second and third-order impacts of this hypothesis (how this will impact the systems in place)
4. Set a clear, impactful, S.M.A.R.T. goal that L.I.F.T.s us all up and has a two-way conversation designed in
5. Measure if the hypothesis was correct
6. Engage in the built-in two-way conversation and respond to the system impact of the action

7. Iterate... forever 😁 and Win... together 🎉

   That outline cannot be done by someone with only one of these three abilities... but it takes all three to be wielded in sync to have a scalable and lasting impact.

Systems management is all about designing and iterating on the psychology and mechanics of organizational design. A well-stated goal and a propensity for action are both great. However, if we aren’t also stepping back and understanding the inputs and outcomes of the goals and actions, we are akin to a fast-moving boat, without a compass.

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability with only a small amount of guidance

Respects and participates in processes, giving meaningful feedback to help the organization improve

The first step on the journey to systems design and management is focused on the understanding of, participation in, and feedback given to the systems and processes that are already in place.

If a designer of an existing system shows appreciation for your engagement with the system (meaning you provided feedback in the hopes of making it better or helped reinforce and maintain it by explaining it to someone else), that is a great indication you’ve achieved milestone one on the journey to systems excellence.

The remaining milestones will focus on the design and management of systems using the five characteristics of systems. For this milestone, you may be creating and managing systems of self, such as calendaring systems, task-management systems, or other productivity constructs to ensure your personal success. That isn’t to say you aren’t creating systems for those around you. It just means we haven’t begun focusing on the nature of those systems. We all create, influence, and participate in systems… the purpose of this ability is to focus on the internal design and analysis of the systems we create.

• Intended effect radius:
  • Self
• Clarity of purpose:
  • Why does this matter? How will we be better? What needs are we aiming to meet?
• Structure:
  • No expectation of a clear structure
• Outcomes:
  • No expectation that you’ve stated and/or are measuring the results of the system.
• Inter-relatedness:
  • At this milestone, it is not an expectation that we are considering or maybe even aware of the other systems in play and how one will impact the others.

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability, with no assistance as well as being a trusted active or passive mentor to others

Identifies opportunities to improve existing processes and makes changes that positively affect your squad. Beginning to develop processes and programs to solve ongoing organizational problems within the squad.

• Intended effect radius:
  • Squad and/or Guild
• Clarity of purpose:
  • All milestones require there to be a clear purpose for any system. Why does this matter? How will we be better? What needs are we aiming to meet? \ These are questions that you and everyone impacted by the system is aware of and can answer.
• Structure:
  • You’ve likely created some active systems (which have a defined trigger, an understood routine, and an expected response). This means you understand the boundary, inputs, and outputs of the system you are putting in place.
• Outcomes:
  • You likely state the outcomes of the system, though you may not analyze it.
• Inter-relatedness:
  • At this milestone, it is not an expectation that we are considering or maybe even aware of the other systems in play and how one will impact the others.

Examples:

• A new format for squad, crew, or guild retrospectives
• Creating an agreement on or standards for inter-team communication

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to multiple squads when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability as well as being considered an expert within this discipline

Develop processes and programs to solve ongoing organizational problems within a squad, while also thinking deeply about organizational issues across squads and identifies hidden dynamics that contribute to them.

• Intended effect radius:
  • Department
• Clarity of purpose:
  • All milestones require there to be a clear purpose for any system. Why does this matter? How will we be better? What needs are we aiming to meet? \ These are questions that you and everyone impacted by the system is aware of and can answer.
• Structure:
  • You’ve created active systems (which have a defined trigger, an understood routine, and an expected response) as well as passive systems (creating the environment in such a way that it offers the Means, Motive, Opportunity to achieve the outcome we desire).
  • This means you have a solid grasp on the boundary, inputs, and outputs of the system you are putting in place.
• Outcomes:
  • You clearly state the expected outcomes of the system
  • You build in ways to analyze the outcomes as well as foster a cadence to ensure the analysis is done
  • You have systems that fail (this is very important), and proudly state that as well as what we learned by investing time into the system
• Inter-relatedness:
  • At this milestone, it is not an explicit expectation that we are considering or maybe even aware of the other systems in play and how one will impact the others. However, you are aware of the impacts one system might have on another as well as the concept of subsystems.

Examples:

• Active system: Developed baseline project management system templates for consistency and clarity
• Passive system: Defined Guild's manifesto and charter, and works to ensure calories can be given to working on guild initiatives
• Active system: Creating a bug triage system that is adopted by all squads and has a measurable improvement in application quality

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can not only employ this ability but where they set the tone for this at the company level

Leads initiatives to address issues stemming from hidden dynamics and company norms

• Intended effect radius:
  • Company
• Clarity of purpose:
  • All milestones require there to be a clear purpose for any system. Why does this matter? How will we be better? What needs are we aiming to meet? \ These are questions that you and everyone impacted by the system is aware of and can answer.
• Structure:
  • Systems you design and/or actively help maintain adhere to the structure defined in Milestone 3.
• Outcomes:
  • Systems you design and/or actively help maintain adhere to the structure defined in Milestone 3.
  • Also, the outcomes you define often have clarity in how folks interpret them. This is measured by the fact that the outcomes themselves spark conversation that leads to a strong system, in other words, at this milestone the resilience and ideally antifragility of systems are being discussed.
• Inter-relatedness:
  • You are aware of the impacts one system might have on another as well as the concept of subsystems. To the point where you build this into the model and use it to our advantage.

Examples:

• Active system: Lead efforts to increase the number of mobile engineers
• Passive system: Evaluates incentive structures and their effect on execution
• Active system: Analyzed the hiring rubric for false-negative potential
• Active system: Leads effort to simultaneously improve platform quality as well as increase development speed

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to not just internal teams but the community/industry in general when wielding this ability, and they are recognized by the community/industry as an expert

Is recognized in the local community/industry as an expert. Other organizations implement systems you helped design.