Category Archives: Design steps

Levels and actors in the design process

Posted on April 30, 2014 by andrew campbell

I was stimulated by two recent inputs.  One was my two day course Designing Operating Models which ran at the end of April.   Great inputs from participants.  The second is a discussion on LinkedIn about the difference between architects and … Continue reading →

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How much detail do you need

Posted on April 30, 2014 by andrew campbell

This is a re-post of a previous blog that I have had to trash because it was attracting a stream of spam.  If you have read it before – my apologies. In a recent workshop, we were working on operating … Continue reading →

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Maybe there is a role for a capability map

Posted on April 16, 2014 by andrew campbell

Last night I was reading Roger Martin’s book “Playing to Win”. It is mainly about P&G. The chapter I focused on was the one where he talks about core capabilities. He draws on Michael Porter’s article “What is strategy?” and … Continue reading →

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Some thoughts on the process of design

Posted on April 2, 2014 by andrew campbell

I have realised over the years that the flow charts we put together to describe the work steps of a design project, which look very neat, dovetail into each other and make all kinds of rational logic, don’t describe what … Continue reading →

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How to get enough information about the detail

Posted on March 17, 2014 by andrew campbell

The following is mostly stolen from Don Reinertsen’s article “Going to Gemba”.  But it is worth stealing!  Thank you Don. In lean methodology, the way to get enough knowledge about details is to “go to gemba”.  This means going to … Continue reading →

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Designing top down and bottom up

Posted on February 24, 2014 by andrew campbell

It is not possible to design everything at once. So should you start at the top and work down or start at the bottom and work up? Form follows function suggests that you should start at the top – what … Continue reading →

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Getting started on an operating model

Posted on February 18, 2014 by andrew campbell

I have been wrestling with the issue of how to get started on the design of a target operating model. My thoughts are as follows: 1. Start with the strategy 2. Convert the strategy into promises/offers for each stakeholder and … Continue reading →

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Design principles – how do you get good ones?

Posted on February 13, 2014 by andrew campbell

Most experts on organisation design or operating model design or enterprise architecture will tell you that you need to define your “design principles” or “design criteria” before you start developing solutions.   The design principles tell you what “good” looks like.  … Continue reading →

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What is the role of a capability map?

Posted on February 4, 2014 by andrew campbell

I have been thinking about capability maps. One of the participants on my course Designing Operating Models http://www.ashridge.org.uk/dom had a consultant do a big capability map as the first step in designing a TOM. I think it is also one … Continue reading →

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Object oriented design

Posted on January 25, 2014 by andrew campbell

I am probably the only person on the planet who had not heard of object oriented design. But, today I did learn a bit about it. Forgive me if I have the wrong end of the stick! So, the idea … Continue reading →

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