Organisation

The organisation building block defines how people, roles, and teams are structured to work together. It sets the foundation for decision-making, accountability, and collaboration, and describes both the formal line organisation and the dynamic network structures (such as value streams, programs, or communities) that enable flexibility.

Why it's important

Clear organisational design ensures that responsibilities are understood, decisions are made at the right level, and people can collaborate effectively. Without a well-defined organisation view, teams risk working in silos, governance becomes unclear, and the balance between stability and adaptability is lost.

Interactions with other building blocks

Processes – The organisation provides the roles that execute and own processes.
Systems & Technology – Organisational design often follows system boundaries and vice versa.
People & Capabilities – Defines how talent is grouped, developed, and led.
Governance & Policies – Establishes who makes and enforces rules, and how compliance is managed.

Common challenges

When defining the organisation building block, key questions include:

How do we balance the stability of the line organisation with the flexibility of networks (value streams, ARTs, communities)?
Which decision rights and accountabilities sit where in the structure?
How do roles and reporting lines support end-to-end value delivery?
How do we design governance bodies to enable alignment without slowing down execution?
What level of autonomy should teams or units have within the system?

Our vision

We strongly believe in combining a line organisation and a network organisation. Depending on the strategic focus, responsibilities will be divided between these two organisations.
In any organisation where choices must be made regarding resources, we recommend including a Lean Portfolio to facilitate this process transparently.
We believe in clear role descriptions. Every role is equally significant in model and has a certain level of autonomy; they not need management to tell them what to do.
Management is there to ensure this system works and to define the responsibilities and boundaries of the roles.