The OIC Concept
Orient Implement Cultivate
For almost any organization, agility is needed to survive in a fast-moving modern world, but transforming an organization into one which can thrive in the digital age is a daunting task. The larger and more established your company, the greater the challenge will be, and many companies struggle to find the path through the maze.
In our work on agile transformations, we have identified recurring success patterns and based on these created the OIC Guide to help us to help you make your agile transformation a successful one.
On this page we explain the concepts leading to the OIC.
The Nature of an Enterprise
There are many ways to generically describe the functions of an enterprise and one way (which we find the most useful for transformation work) is through the four key dimensions, Enterprise, Portfolio, Delivery & Enablement
That is, every organization will have:
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An enterprise function
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A portfolio function
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A delivery function and
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An enablement function
Read more about the dimensions here.
Additionally, any enterprise has what we call an organizational memory - the culture, the behaviours, the assumptions, the unwritten rules and values that influence how the enterprise operates. In our model, the organization of the functions of an enterprise (considering all four dimensions) combined with its organizational memory is what makes up the DNA of the enterprise.
Despite Larman's Law (culture follows structure), our experience has been that many structural changes do not take root before the gravitational pull of organizational memory causes structures to revert to their orgional state or at least to deviate from their intended path.
Transforming an Enterprise
To deal with constantly changing collaboration needs (which teams need to collaborate with which other teams), organizations need to learn new ways of working. This is more than a reorganization. Reorganizing structures alone does not address the enterprise's ability to reorganize dynamically. I.e. an agile transformation focuses on giving an enterprise the ability to dynamically reorganize at will. This requires a behavioural change. Without the consideration of cultural impact, any structural changes will be superficial and below the surface, little will have changed.
To increase the chances, that changes stick, interventions need to consider all four dimensions (enterprise, portfolio, delivery and enablement). This does not mean that an intervention needs to be large, but needs to consider the context in which it is made.
For maximum effect, changes must appreciate how the company currently works and understand what levers for change can be used or what impediments to change need to be addressed.
Over time, with targeted interventions which consider the context of the different functional dimensions and include the sociotechnical and cultural aspects of change, the organizational memory and ultimately the DNA of an enterprise can be changed.
The Phases of a Transformation
All transformations start with an orientation phase where people understand the what and why of a transformation.
This is followed by an implementation phase where targeted changes are applied.
Finally, a cultivation phase embeds the new behaviours in the DNA of the organization.
The phases Orientation, Implementation Cultivation give the OIC model its name.
In a complex transformation, these phases occur simultaneously in different areas of the organization.
For a transformation to take root, all areas of an organization will ultimately go through all phases, sometimes this is spontaneous and sometimes supported by a program.
Orient, Implement, Cultivate
The Phases of any transformation
Read more about the phases of an intervention here
Value Streams
Organizational Structure
Enterprises structure their organization to manage collaborations, communication and governance for various tasks.
These organizational structures do not necessarily consider the functional dimensions, sometimes combining them in the same orgnizational units, sometimes not.
Typically, most people in an organization work in the delivery and enablement functions where ultimately value for the customer is generated
How Value is created
Value is created for a customer and an organization by fulfilling a customer need. The collaboration steps from the identified need through to delivery and hopefully a satisfied customer is called a value stream.
Actors from various organizational units collaborate within the value stream to provide the service to the customer.
To keep up with changing contexts, value streams regularly change - meaning collaborations need to change - and a rigid organizational structure becomes an impediment to providing value.
In an agile transformation, organizations learn new ways of working, develop flexible collaboration mechanisms and adapt and simplify processes.
Read more about value streams here
The importance of value streams
An organization has numerous value streams - many interweaving and crossing. When transforming to a scaled agile organization, it is important to understand what value streams exist and how they may change so that the organization may respond to the value creation need without unnecessary overhead, lossy handovers between organizational boundaries and delay waiting for information or unnecessary approvals.
In all phases of a transformation, understanding and organizing around value streams is key. Existing organizational structures may need to be adapted or dismantled.
Orient: identifying value streams
Implement: organizing around these
Cultivate: internalizing the value stream focus and mechanisms to reorganize around value.
The OIC Transformation Model
An enterprise agile transformation is a a complex sociotechnical challenge.
We have found that the three dimensions shown need to be considered throughout a transformation.
The phases: Orient, implement Cultivate - make an inevitable lifecycle for understanding what should be done, doing it and ensuring that the changes are established and become part of the DNA of an organization
The Dimensions: All dimensions need to be considered and addressed to avoid backsliding and later discovering that essential aspects of a transformation are missing endangering the whole.
Value Streams is at the core. The constant focus on collaborations which generate the most value is essential for ensuring that the organizational solutions are efficient and effective.
