The System Lead

Enhancing Effectiveness of the Work-System

In the dynamic landscape of modern business, effective leadership can make or break an organization. AME3, a progressive leadership framework, empowers businesses to navigate complexity and drive innovation through three fundamental functions: Owner, System Lead, and Team.

Building on the previous chapter surrounding ownership responsibility, we now shift focus to the catalyst for continue improvement: the System Lead.

AME3 Leadership System.png The System Lead embedded in the Leadership System of AME3.

Through the lens of two examples — a burgeoning Start-up and a medium-sized Enterprise — we will explore how System Leads within AME3 enhance effectiveness and adaptability.

Example: Start-up

Culture follows structure – Larman’s Laws

From the beginning, the start-up implemented AME3 as its management system, thanks to one of its first employees. She convinced the founder to adopt an Agile and flexible corporate structure to facilitate the early growth of the enterprise. Additionally, she maneuvered the founder in to the function of the Owner or, while she took on the role of System Lead.

While AME3, unlike Scrum, is not exclusively designed for the complex domain, it’s recommending Scrum for the given situation. Scrum defines specific roles for a team working in complex environments. It’s perfect as the leading framework for a start-up in its early stages. The roles of Owner, System Lead, and Team in AME3 align on the principle level with the Scrum roles of Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and Developer.

So, as the organization grew beyond a single Scrum Team, establishing essential functions such as finance and HR alongside the development teams became straightforward. Within AME3 she could easily integrate other frameworks and methods. In here case, Large Scale Scrum for the development and Kanban to organize the basic corporate functions.

The company has since grown to 50 employees. Growth also means the development of the teams and people skills. It is the System Lead’s job to constantly develop these further. Teams had to be newly formed and built up with new employees. New practices had to be learned, and old ways of doing things had to be unlearned.

The System Lead also had to act if an employee couldn’t be integrated into the Teams permanently, sometimes leading to parting ways with them. She handled these actions personally. For other matters, she facilitated the process. Consequently, decisions on new hires were made collectively by team-representatives, the Owner, and the System Lead.

As the number of Teams increased, so did the number of System Leads. At the time in question, four more System Leads were grouped around the first System Lead. There are various focal points to which the System Leads are dedicated. For example, facilitating the recruiting process, introducing and adapting engineering methods, continuous coaching on product strategy.

The product architecture is a reflection of the organizational structure that develops the product. – Conway’s law

One of the most enduring challenges is the strong dependency and the necessary communication between the Teams. What was still somehow feasible with 30 employees is now starting to become a real problem. More and more isolated solutions are being developed by the Teams which are not integrated into the common Arena Product, and therefore are not usable by the customers. So, despite the organization has grown in employee numbers, the overall performance has not improved.

Teams often opt for isolated solutions to avoid waiting on other Teams for results or decisions, a problem that intensifies with each new hire. The only solution for future growth is to design the Arena Product architecture so that Teams have minimal overlapping activities. Furthermore, it’s crucial to enhance the Teams’ self-organization and engineering skills.

The System Leads must therefore work very closely with the Owner and the Teams to repeatedly conduct experiments with them to promote new insights for the Arena Product architecture, organizational structure and practices.

So, the System Leads together as a unit have taken on the responsibility of optimizing the entire work system, which we call Arena in AME3.

Example: Medium-Sized Enterprise

In the first part of the series, we observed how the Enterprise Owner developed and prioritized the Enterprise Backlog, focusing the organization on a few key Goals. Initial Arenas and Products utilizing the AME3 structure were also identified. This strategic plan was created with input from Accountable Representatives and experts, guided by an experienced external consultant.

At the end of this process, the Enterprise Owner offered the external consultant a continuous role as System Lead to facilitate the process of inspecting and adapting the enterprise strategy on a permanent position, making him the Enterprise System Lead. His initial task was to align the existing board and executive meetings.

The refined structure now integrates a strategy workshop with all Accountable Representatives every three months, coupled with a weekly alignment meeting that includes the Enterprise Owner, Owners, and the executive management. In AME3, this enterprise wide cycle of inspection and adaptation is termed as a Tournament.

During this initial process, 2 potential Arenas and their corresponding Products were identified:

  1. The division dedicated to the development and Production of a globally successful laser welding tool family.
  2. A novel machine tool that potentially leverages a new approach to 3D printing, synergized with cutting-edge AI-based control software.

From the enterprise’s perspective, the two highlighted TestProducts bore striking resemblances, as they both held immense strategic value.

In addition to these considerations, the following factors significantly influenced the selection of the first Arena Product:

  1. The development and production of the laser welding devices were able to operate relative independently of other organizational units without significant reorganization.
  2. The dependencies on suppliers were already managed by the unit, so changes could be managed directly.
  3. Scrum were already being utilized in the development, and Lean Management practices had been experimented with in the production. However, a comprehensive approach was yet to be established, which is precisely what an Arena in AME3 is offering.

In collaboration with the ScrumMasters and people leads, the Enterprise System Lead formulated an improvement plan for the Arena. This plan encompassed the establishment of Matches for the entire Arena, the creation of an Arena Backlog, and aligning the Arena with the enterprise’s Tournament. The Owner of the Arena, previously the head of production and now also accountable for development, added these measures to the Arena and set the final priorities. At a later point, ScrumMasters and people leads reorganized. Some transitioned into System Lead function, while others filled the gaps as highly needed experts within the Teams.

The 2nd Arena Product, the 3D printer machine tool, hardly differed from the start-up example. Instead of a CEO of the start-up, the Owner of the Arena was a former product manager with a strong engineering background. The System Lead’s role was taken on by an experienced ScrumMaster, who was a fresh hire by the Enterprise System Lead and the Owner.

Within the rhythm of the Tournament, the Enterprise System Lead and System Leads of the two Arenas continuously inspect and adapt their organizational development work. This process is always aligned with the Arena Product goals set by the Owners and Enterprise Owner. It also includes Team and people development activities, such as exchanging experiences between the two Arenas.

This leads us to the pivotal leadership function within AME3. In Part 3, we will explore how Teams drive towards achieving customer satisfaction.

Rules

AME3 establishes rules that foster the development and flourishing of the leadership system. Here are the rules connected with the System Lead and Enterprise System Lead:

System Lead

Enterprise System Lead

Conclusion

The System Leads lead to an effective work system. They serve the Enterprise by:

  • Developing competencies of Teams and people.
  • Facilitating decision-making.
  • Sustaining a continuous cycle of Planning, Execution, Inspection, and Adaptation.

Uncover the ongoing journey of the two enterprises in our forthcoming article, which will spotlight the Leadership role of the Teams.