Because you are able to model the behaviour of the humans you are dealing with, you understand the system you are modifying, and you understand how to mould culture, none of these issues will come up.
These are just frameworks that sound intelligent but are not useful.
Conversation
"Wait, but Cedric, Goodwin's law is a thing! Other intelligent people talk about it!"
Yes, but the way you defeat Goodwin's law is not by talking about Goodwin's law. Bloom talks about Amazon in his tweet thread. Amazon actually deals with Goodwin's law quite well.
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In Working Backwards, Colin Bryar and Bill Carr dedicated an entire chapter to how they think about metrics.
The number of times they mention Goodwin's Law: 0.
Amazon has a process they call DMAIC. The book tells the story of the step-by-step unfolding that led them to it.
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Bryar and Carr are extremely believable, by the way. They were in the room when the 6-pager was designed, when the decentralised org in Amazon was built, and when Amazon's approach to metrics was still being built out.
DMAIC enables them to sidestep Goodwin's law.
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Most people, with no org design background, would read Working Backwards as a 'manual of techniques to apply'.
Org designers read Working Backwards as an accounting of the step-by-step unfolding that LED Amazon to design those systems.
My summary:
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Novice org designers would read stories of misaligned incentives and go "Ha! What a bad idea! Use these frameworks!"
Experienced org designers would read stories of misaligned incentives and ask: "How did they get there and what processes did they try after that incident?"
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I spend a lot of time talking about believability. I said that you should not pay attention to ideas from people who:
- Have not had at least 3 successes in the domain, and
- Have a coherent explanation when probed.
This is not my idea, it's Ray Dalio's:
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Replying to
How do coaches fit into the idea of believability?
Jim Collins never ran a company. But he is highly knowledgeable on mgmt principles
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Michael Mauboussin has a useful idea here: he thinks that Collins is useful because he gives managers benign myths. I buy this framing.
There is a large literature on Collins's failings, so I won't go into that.
joincolossus.com/episodes/13228
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I would also add that a huge part of being a coach is for you to help clients figure things out for themselves. So I don't discount that aspect of the relationship.
Of course, different types of coaches: there are those who teach 'models', and for those, believability is key.