12. How many of these can you identify in your
organization?
● People are too busy to help others
● You know something has been done already but can’t find it
● We only talk to our own people. No external inputs (other teams, units,
deps. etc.)
● Asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness
● People believe they should fix their own problems
Check!
13. Four barriers to collaboration
Hoarding barrier:
People are unwilling to help
others.
Transference problem:
People are unable to
transfer information
easily from one place to
another
Not invented here barrier:
People are unwilling to ask
others for help
Search problem:
People can not easily
find the information of
people they need
19. Optimization: Division of labour
1700’s - 1840’s
Industrial revolution.
Having the workers
perform a single or
limited tasks, in order
to reduce cost and
optimize production
Unskilled workers
Shorter training, lower
salaries, can hire more
Craftsmen
Longer training, more
skilled, lower salaries, can
hire less
20. The Allen curve
In 1977 Thomas J. Allen was the first to
measure the strong negative correlation
between physical distance and frequency
of communication.
The “Allen curve” estimates that we are
four times as likely to communicate
regularly with someone sitting 2m away
from us as with someone 20m away, and
that we almost never communicate with
colleagues on separate floors or in
separate buildings.
40. Recap
The biggest opportunities to add value to the
organization lay between functions and by
working on your silos you can take advantage
of those opportunities.
41. Recap
Silos are not going anywhere because the forces that
create them, are not disappearing anytime soon.
You can minimize their effects by:
● Blurring the boundaries between silos, not the
functions
● Aligning your organizational vectors