Anti-pattern 7.8
Reorg Without Re-funding
A reorganization changes the org chart and leaves the budget lines where they were.
In This Context
A change program wants a different architecture, or the results of a diagnosis make people “immediately want to reorganize something.” Moving teams around is the lever most leaders already control, and it can be done quickly and visibly.
Therefore
The org chart is redrawn, and the teams are moved, but the money that funds them and the measures they’re judged on stay the same.
Consequently
- The reorganization is quick, visible, and looks like progress.
- It fails to change behavior, because the forces that shaped the old system are still at work.
- The old architecture reasserts itself.
- A better approach: Move the Money, Then the Org.
Seen In
Chapter 9, “Extending Conway’s Law”; the “Structure changed, money didn’t” row of Chapter 12, table “Common mismatches between the layers”; Chapter 15, figure “Reading the reactions to the workshop report”; Chapter 17, “Reverse Conway, One Link Further Left”.