Holacracy

I was introduced to this concept a couple of weeks ago. It is a different way of viewing organizational structures. Traditionally we view things hierarchically with single lines of command and control and rigidity. Holacracy builds on Agile approaches to team process and scales the fundamental underlying concepts across the entire organization. The fundamental underpinnings are trust, communication, focus and urgency. Several of the higher conceptual layers are interesting.

At the highest level, holacracy views the organization as a collection of overlapping team circles of increasing scope. Each team circle is a complete cell with its own governance and processes. Each team circle is not self-directing, but takes flowdown from the next scoping level for direction. Each team circle elects a representative to link up to the next higher scope team circle. Each higher level team circle elects a representative to link down into the next lower scope team circle.

Another interesting concept is that of rhythm, the temporal heartbeat of an organization. Rhythm granularity is consistent for the overall organization as well as in the microcosm of each individual team. There are daily, weekly, monthly and larger scale rhythmic pulses for meeting frequency and structure. Daily standups are for quick fast-firing communication of what is to be accomplished that particular day. Weekly tactical meetings are for dealing with the necessary things to be done on a particular week.

Iterative tactical meetings organize execution for multiple week sprints that break projects down into manageable chunks. Monthly governance meetings are for discussing how the team/organization will work together and what changes need to be considered. Strategic meetings can occur quarterly or 1-2 times per year to look forward across a longer time horizon to adjust direction at a more macro level of control.

Holacracy is positioned as a new operating system for the organization. It embraces short bursts of activity toward a long term goal with frequent feedback loops and adaptive mechanisms for quick fine-grained steering. It draws from successful processes that have been pioneered at the team level and embraces, extends and scales these concepts up to the level of the organization.