#4 - Where most organisational systems fail
In a way, companies are nothing more than a collection of people aligning around a mission. Bound together by relationships, supported by systems. As companies grow, the role of these systems becomes more important, because they establish culture, set expectations, and empower people to do great work at scale.
As business theorist Deming once estimated, 94% of organisational problems (and opportunities!) can be attributed to these systems. Yet most teams only notice their importance when they break. The symptoms show up daily through out-of-sync plans, misaligned expectations, poorly justified decisions, and set-and-forget priorities.
One of the most common failure modes for systems is like building a beautiful instrument no one learns to play. An artefact gets created—often under pressure—but never reviewed, updated, or embedded into the rhythm of the organisation. The result? A silent system. Even though the artefact exists, it isn't accompanied by a ritual. It's a recipe for frustration.
When systems stall, leaders can bring them back to life by asking three deceptively simple questions:
- Purpose: How is this system contributing to helping our people create more customer value, faster?
- Artefact: What is the artefact which reflects the single source of truth for the output of this system?
- Ritual: What is the consistent ritual that keeps the artefact up to date and actionable?
Good systems live and breathe with the organisation. They’re not just written down, but lived. They generate value and reflect shared understanding, anchored by well-defined artefacts that are easy to adopt throughout the organisation. But above all, they are kept alive by the quiet drums of strong rituals.