The Shape of Work Seen Through the Gaps #2 | How to Decipher the Structure of Roles
When you stand at the "boundaries" of an organization, various discrepancies quietly emerge.
The moments when words stop aligning between departments, little by little. The flow of work that stalls for some reason, even though no one is slacking off or acting with malice.
What we, as business designers, are looking at is not the "people" who are confused there, but the "structure" that lies behind them.
There is one important premise for observing boundaries. It is that the business designer, who is the one observing the boundary, has "no boundary" themselves. Rather than belonging deeply to any one function, we step slightly into every role, picking up what lies beneath.
This "gaze without boundaries" is the essence of the position of a business designer.
■ A role is not a "responsibility," but a "collection of premises"
A role in an organization is not merely an assignment of tasks. Behind it exists the "correctness (premise)" that each person is trying to protect within the organization.
The sales department wants to keep its "promises" to customers. Customer support does not want to compromise the customer "experience." The development department wants to maintain the "reproducibility" and safety of the system. The administrative department does not want to loosen the "control" of the entire organization.
These are all essential and correct premises for the organization. However, because each form of correctness is so strong, quiet friction is born on the boundary lines.
To understand the true nature of that friction, business designers step slightly into the domain of every role. Instead of looking from outside the boundary line, we walk slowly along the boundary line, reaching out to touch what they are carrying on their shoulders.
■ Friction is born from "untouchable premises"
Most of the problems that occur at boundaries are born from these discrepancies in "premises."
Troublesomely, each other's premises are often treated as "common sense that should be understood without saying," and are never put into words. It is a state where the common sense of sales and the common sense of development are colliding in silence.
If you only listen to one perspective, you will never see the true nature of this discrepancy. Only those who enter the gaps of the boundaries can obtain two different viewpoints at the same time. That is why business designers dare to go and breathe the air of every workplace as "beings that belong nowhere."
■ Deciphering the structure means giving words to premises
Once you find each premise, the next step is "translation." It is the work of giving words to invisible premises.
How far does this department see, and where do they stop looking? In any role, there is always an "unseen (invisible) area." Many of the tasks that fall through the cracks at the boundaries between operations occur in these "areas that neither side is looking at."
To pick up those fallen pieces, business designers move across boundaries, verbalizing implicit premises. To pick up what is outside of a role, you absolutely need someone who can stand outside of it. Here, the necessity for the professional skill of a business designer—the skill of the gap—finally emerges within the organization.
■ Place the point of responsibility on the "structure," not the people
When work doesn't go well, we tend to seek responsibility in people, saying things like "that person missed a check" or "that department is moving too slowly."
However, most problems that occur at boundaries are distortions of 'structure,' not people. If mistakes happen in the same place and work stalls in the same place even when the person in charge changes, it is not a problem of individual ability, but a sign that the structure has broken down.
The reason business designers can place responsibility on the structure rather than blaming individuals is that they have touched upon the struggles of every role, little by little. Because they are not fixed to a specific department and can walk freely across boundaries, they can identify bugs in the structure first, before making anyone the villain.
■ Only those without boundaries can prepare to connect them
Once each premise emerges as words, the 'conditions for connecting' finally become visible.
However, to connect them correctly, you need a quiet, unbiased perspective that is not pulled by the gravity of either side. If you take in the claims of one role too excessively, the premises of the other side will become distorted, creating new friction.
Standing right in the middle of the boundary, without belonging completely to either side, how do you connect the premises that have become invisible? This quiet preparation to design that midpoint is the important role of a business designer.
For those who want to touch upon the thinking of 'gaps' even more deeply
How do we perceive and reweave invisible things like roles and structures? We have prepared a corridor that touches upon the 'premises' that lie at our feet.
▶ Next story in the series: The Shape of Work Seen Through the Gaps #3 | Stitching Boundaries Together with Mechanisms
What awaits after putting premises into words and unraveling the friction of boundaries is the practice of how to connect them as concrete 'mechanisms.' I will talk about the approach of 'stitching' rather than using glue.
▶ The 'Translation' Technique of Putting Premises into Words #Business Designer Theory | Translators Weave the Language of Mechanisms
I delve into the profession of 'translation' for entering between departments that have different languages (premises) and eliminating friction.
▶ Knowing the Limits of 'Understanding Without Words': The True Nature of the Frustration That AI Doesn't Understand 'Do It Nicely' — It Might Be a Signal to Reconsider 'Tacit Understanding'
How many 'invisible premises' are lurking in our work? Through the mirror of AI, I unravel the black box known as tacit understanding.