{"id":9937,"date":"2018-04-27T17:25:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T14:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railsware.com\/blog\/?p=9937"},"modified":"2024-10-31T00:04:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T21:04:33","slug":"holacracy-in-action-how-each-railswarian-can-influence-company-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/railsware.com\/blog\/holacracy-in-action-how-each-railswarian-can-influence-company-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Holacracy in Action: How Each Railswarian Can Influence Company Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today we meet the terms \u201cflat structure\u201d, \u201cholacracy\u201d, \u201cprocess-driven organizational structure\u201d a lot in the IT industry, as software companies are usually open to experimenting with innovative approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, holacracy is associated with the Agile methodology<\/a>, and is frequently called its successor in organizational management. Various companies around the world have implemented separate holacracy elements and tested those in the field. And Railsware is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holacracy<\/a> as a type of an organizational structure is based on autonomous units – teams or squads<\/a>. These have equal rights and stand on the same level within the organization. This is why this structure is often called \u201cflat\u201d. It is a step away from the classic hierarchy\u2014 the responsibility for decisions is equally distributed between all of the teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each squad is responsible for a specific end-to-end process\/project\/product, and includes experts with various backgrounds. This provides the squad with autonomy in their work. Connections between squads are supported by representatives from each team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holacracy is not about the positions, but about the roles<\/a> – employees can play several different roles at the same time, they are not blocked by a one specific position. If reorganization is required (due to the market changes, for example), Agile approach helps to go through it smoothly, without spending a massive amount of time and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to work in such an environment? Apply for one of our open positions.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would not say that Railsware is a pure holacracy. But we have successfully implemented several holacracy elements on different levels of the organization, and these have proved their efficiency. Here we will present our process for defining company\u2019s strategy, which involved every single employee – we call it \u201cRailswarian Connect\u201d. Let\u2019s see how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"RWN<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Defining Strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Shaping strategy in an open discussion with 45 people is impossible. This is why we organized data collection and analysis in 4 stages. We have created an infrastructure for each of them, which was 95% based on Google Spreadsheets+Forms, Hangouts. During the session, we communicated via BigMarker and Slack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 1: Survey<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All employees were divided into balanced groups based on their role in the company, employment duration, project, location.
Each Railswarian retrospectively defined top-3 \u201cGOOD things about the company\u201d and top-3 \u201cThings to IMPROVE about the company\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tools: Google Forms + Google Spreadsheets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"RWN-Connect-GOODs\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Example of \u201cGOOD things about the company\u201d<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"RWN-Connect-IMPROVEs\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Example of \u201cThings to IMPROVE about the company\u201d<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 2. Prioritisation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Each group received a list of their participants\u2019 GOODs and IMPROVEs. During the session, they had to define top-5 GOODs + top-5 IMPROVEs from their group within a limited amount of time. This is how we validated individual points and defined the most important ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tools: BigMarker – for running large remote meetings. In total, we had 9 locations and 11 connections. Google Spreadsheets – for the GOODs\/IMPROVEs lists.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Holacracy-Railsware-Conference\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Stage 3. Classification<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Our next task was to classify the top points and to add those to Railsware\u2019s strategy. We found out that all of the groups had many ideas in common. But working with raw data (even verified by the groups) was rather complicated, this is why we classified all of the points mentioned at the session:<\/p>\n\n\n\n