What are the Physics of Organizations?
I am interested in understand organizational patterns, group behavior, individual behavior, the effect of an environment on both groups and individuals. Both are in a bi-directional relationship with the environment, and thus each-other, constantly exchanging feedback.
Individuals use Resources to generate Outputs.
The result are many competing forces. And thus, many perspectives.
Forces
- Some law has to do with Finances. Revenues. Expenses
- Employees
- Policies
- Competing Companies
- Market
- Consumer Expectations
- Seemingly unrelated innovations or developments
Structures
- Value Streams
- Business "Verticals"
- Teams
- Products
- Features
Simon Wardley distinguishes between Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners.
Brian Gilham makes the distinction between being a "Connector" or "Compartment" alizer.
An org can be described as both Objected Oriented, and functional.
Function oriented
Functional groups can be depicted visually as stovepipes - vertical stripes of functional responsibility.
Process oriented
Process orientation is the horizontal movement, often indicating the movement across time as well.
Notably, I find a similarity in Ruby, in thinking about Classes (Models specifically) as Functional responsibilities. Whereas Controllers are cross-cutting concerns that weave together functionality exposes by the Model classes.
In each case, a #
can depict this design pattern.