Org structure
Build the airframe before you fly it.
Four tiers, each with one backlog and one planning horizon. Stood up in the order the eight outcomes call for, so nobody gets a new org chart and an old way of working.
The structure
Four tiers. One backlog each.
Strategy flows down as epics, features and stories. Evidence flows back up as metrics, demos and RAD Assessments. Pick an outcome to see which parts of the organization it stands up.
Strategy
Backlog: Strategic themes & investment
Horizon: 12+ months
157
Executive Leadership Team
Sets direction, sponsors the change, and protects teams from whiplash.
Investment Council
Funds value streams and epics, not projects; reallocates on evidence.
Transformation Leadership Team
Owns the RAD roadmap, the assessment cadence and the change plan.
Portfolio
Backlog: Epics
Horizon: 6–12 months
256
Portfolio Team
Keeps a 6–12 month epic roadmap with clear problem and value statements.
Product Discovery Team
Validates opportunities before they consume delivery capacity.
Product
Backlog: Features
Horizon: 3–6 months
236
Product Team
Owns product fit and a 3–6 month feature backlog linked to epics.
Product Owner Team
Refines, sequences and accepts; keeps 2–3 iterations ready.
Delivery
Backlog: Stories
Horizon: 2–3 iterations
1348
Delivery Teams
Persistent, cross-functional, test-protected. Scrum or Kanban, your call.
Platform, Ops & InfoSec
Pipelines, environments and guardrails so teams can release on demand.
The stand-up sequence
What each outcome adds to the structure.
- 1
Organize Teams
Names in boxes. Persistent teams chartered at every tier, each with a working agreement and a cadence.
- 2
Establish Backlogs
One backlog per tier in the ALM: epics for portfolio, features for product, stories for delivery.
- 3
Establish Workflow
Refinement links the tiers. Every story traces to a feature, every feature to an epic. No orphans.
- 4
RAD Health & Metrics
The Transformation Leadership Team owns a RAD Assessment and metrics cadence across every team.
- 5
Demand & Capacity Alignment
WIP limits per tier. The Investment Council funds to measured capacity, not to hope.
- 6
Align Value Releases
A release-planning cadence that ties product and delivery to dates the business can trust.
- 7
Establish Feedback
ROI, MVP and adoption checkpoints carry evidence back up to strategy.
- 8
Continuous Improvement
RID backlogs at every tier. The structure itself becomes something teams can improve.
How the structure matures
Same boxes. Different trust.
The tiers stay put while the teams inside them grow up. Start from where the RAD Assessment says you are, not where the org chart says you should be.
| Level | Organizational structure | Team structure | Trust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Beginning | Organized around projects and functional areas; people not co-located; reliance on managers. | Command & control. Separate roles, task-oriented work, managers decide what gets done, by when, by whom and in what order. | Basic trust. Show up, be on time, work hard. Know your job and do your job. Don’t make waves. |
| 2 Operating | Co-located team space; teams still formed per project but product thinking introduced; still need a delivery lead. | Managed teams. Cross-functional and co-located, still learning how to own execution of several products at once. | Conditional trust. Building autonomy while still relying on guidance from more expert performers. Aware that acting unilaterally could cause major breakdowns. |
| 3 Adaptive | Take the work to the team. Product, not project, mindset: teams persist while projects come and go. | Self-managing teams. No manager managing the backlog. The team works with a product owner on priority, with a focus on flow. | Autonomous trust. Teams repeatedly deliver budget, schedule, quality and scope without oversight, and without breaking other parts of the organization. |
| 4 Quantified | Fully cross-functional team reaching into business roles, with the product owner in the team room. | Self-organizing teams. The team owns its commitments through ownership of the backlog. Project managers and delivery leads are no longer required. | Visible trust. Promises (KPIs) are tracked. Progress is big, visible and regularly reviewed with leadership. |
| 5 Innovating | Fully autonomous cross-functional teams with P&L ownership that start their own craft improvements. | Self-optimizing teams. Owns business and technical responsibilities, looks to each other for craft and skill, and will push back on bureaucracy that gets in the way. | Authentic trust. Leaders build a place where people bring ideas and passion. The risk of failure is named openly and planned for, so people can take smart risks. |
Field note: we have never seen a reorg fail because the boxes were the wrong shape. We’ve seen plenty fail because nobody changed how work flows between them.
Plan your structure