Hazel WeaklyAug 30, 2023

One of the hardest and most valuable things you can do as a company is the following:

1. Have a fully up to date org chart
2. Have a diagram that is not the org chart that accurately reflects how work flows through the company
3. Have an up to date and accurate diagram and explanation of what the company does and how it does it (architecture, revenue funnels, business value streams, code-bases)

Scaling decision making is *impossible* without a shared context to build alignment off of.

Show threadGreg WilsonAug 30, 2023
@hazelweakly Fun exercise: give everyone on the team a piece of paper, a pencil, and 5 minutes to draw a concept map of what the team is supposed to be doing (or an architecture diagram of what it's working on, or...). Everyone does theirs independently, then you count 3-2-1 and everyone reveals. The next hour is always filled with really useful discussion (sometimes quite loud) about differences between different people's mental models and understandings.
Show threadHazel WeaklyAug 30, 2023
@gvwilson I love this. That sounds like an amazing exercise
Show threadGreg WilsonAug 30, 2023
@hazelweakly Reveals a lot of legitimate differences in understanding/vision/etc., and also a lot of straight up misunderstandings. Also shows who has just been lazy about paying attention to anyone's work but their own (or in some cases, including their own). Mistake I made the first time I did it was trying to reconcile everyone's mental models; realized afterward that it's OK for people in different roles to see things differently as long as they're not directly contradicting each other.
Show threadGreg WilsonAug 30, 2023
@hazelweakly p.s. tried to get consensus mental models for some stuff I was teaching (https://third-bit.com/ideas/concept-maps/) but was laid off before the project got far enough to be self-sustaining - still think it would be a really cool resource…
The Third Bit · Concept Maps

Show threadHazel WeaklyAug 31, 2023

@gvwilson ooh those are neat! I like how they lay things out :)

It's also a great example of when computer diagrams really start to break down so I like that they're hand drawn!

Show threadGreg WilsonAug 31, 2023
@hazelweakly [small voice] we cheated - draw.io uses rough.js to give that hand-drawn look.
Show threadHazel Weakly

@gvwilson *gasp* how could youuuuu

(It's fine. No judgement lol)

Aug 31, 2023 at 3:32pmWeb
Show threadGreg WilsonAug 31, 2023
@hazelweakly please, judge - everyone else does :-)