FIELD NOTE 003 · ORGANIZATIONAL DRIFT
The operating model had not failed. It had drifted.
On paper, the organization had a clear flow from insight to planning, design, delivery, and impact.
Supporting functions enabled the work.
Feedback loops connected execution to strategy.
Then reality kept moving.
No one chose a tangled system. The organization inherited one decision at a time.
EXHIBIT A · OPERATING MODEL, OBSERVED
The same organization, drawn twice.
The operating model as it is actually used: local adaptations, competing versions, unofficial paths, and instructions no one has reconciled. Nobody designed this. Every mark on it was a reasonable response to a real condition.
The operating model as described: insight moves to planning, design, delivery, and impact. Supporting functions enable the work. Feedback loops connect execution back to strategy.
INSIGHT
THE MODEL AS DESCRIBED. INSIGHT MOVES TO PLANNING, DESIGN, DELIVERY, IMPACT. FEEDBACK RETURNS TO STRATEGY.
Direction changed. Communicated at leadership offsite only.
Different message shared 4 ways.
Which priorities are current?
Success defined differently now.
Except Enterprise.
Finance changed this.
No longer accurate?
Handoff unclear across departments.
Process changed in March. (Slack)
How many more?
Don't use this version. (Still being used.)
Last updated? Who knows.
Owner: ???
Current? Unclear.
FIG. 003.1 — FIELD ARTIFACT. NOTHING HERE WAS DESIGNED. EVERY ADDITION WAS REASONABLE AT THE TIME. ON NARROW SCREENS, SCROLL THE EXHIBIT SIDEWAYS.
The organization kept adapting. It stopped reconciling those adaptations back into a shared operating model.
01 — REALITY KEPT MOVING
Then reality kept moving.
- A customer segment changed.
- A process moved to a new tool.
- One team created a workaround while the official process remained.
- Leadership changed direction, but not every downstream definition.
- Some teams saw the new version; others kept using the old one.
No single decision created the problem.
02 — WORKAROUNDS ARE ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY
Workarounds are organizational memory.
A workaround may be inefficient.
It may also contain evidence that the official process stopped serving the work.
BEFORE REMOVING IT, ASK:
- 01What problem did it solve when it appeared?
- 02What made the official process impractical?
- 03Who depends on it now?
- 04Which version does each team believe is current?
- 05What would break if it disappeared tomorrow?
Removing a workaround without understanding it can recreate the original problem or move the friction elsewhere.
03 — THE SYSTEM HAD LOST SHARED VISIBILITY
The system had lost shared visibility.
Each team could explain its local logic.
No one seat could see every new path, outdated instruction, changed handoff, conflicting measure, and hidden dependency at once.
That is how drift works. It does not require neglect — only time, change, and no reliable way to compare intention with current reality.
04 — QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Questions worth asking
- Q1Which process is the source of truth?
- Q2Is it current, trusted, and used?
- Q3Where are unofficial paths doing essential work?
- Q4Which decisions changed the system without changing its documentation?
- Q5What signal should trigger another operating-model review?
THE PATTERN
Yesterday's decisions quietly become today's operating model.
The work is not to restore a pristine diagram.
It is to understand what the system has become, decide what should remain, and rebuild shared ownership around what comes next.