DESIGN TO DISRUPT

9 But those self-organizing teams — surely this
has been tried before?
We have known self-organizing teams for a long time,
and in fact they were never really gone. Elements of
self-organization are found in many management theories.
The question is whether self-organization will make
a break-through and become more dominant. That prediction
has also been made before but has never proved
to be correct. The only thing we can add is that over the
years technology has changed. And that there is a more
natural match between current technology and self-organization.
The manager's coordinating job as a middleman
and supervisor is increasingly taken over by technology,
from a simple WhatsApp group for a team, to
dashboards that provide real-time insight into the performance.
And finally we can state that the pressure to
organize management differently, on account of the inertia
in the traditional culture versus that of the digital
disruptors, is substantial. Self-organization is currently
regarded as a solution rather than a problem.
10 How to introduce it?
ING's drive to introduce DevOps evokes respect. But at
the same time, people refer to the risks that are being
taken. Which approach is to be preferred — the rigorous
or the careful one — remains to be seen. But the fact
that DevOps is introduced with continuous feedback
loops in order to learn is obvious: it is inherent in its
philosophy. Some say: 'For the time being I'm not going
to turn everything upside down' (when referring to the
existing organizational structure) and start off by aiming
to create a situation where values are paramount. This in
itself will drive away parochialism and promote collaboration.
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