Nordeck's Evolutionary Leap: Embracing unFIX for a Dynamic Future
Authors: Katja Kruschwitz & Jan-Paul Ouwerkerk
Nordeck's story is not just about embracing a new framework or model; it's about a profound transformation from within. Nordeck IT + Consulting, initially thriving in software development and agile consulting, was already experimenting with self-organization, engaging employees in decision-making. However, as the company expanded, gaps in leadership structures became evident. In one of the regular company retrospectives, employees put forward the idea of a structured transformation and were lucky to have a founder and CEO who also embraced the idea of a cross-functional internal change team towards a more structured and efficient operational model.
Nordeck’s organizational model pre-unFIX. The commitment to self-organization and the shift away from classic line management already evident.
Embarking on a Change Journey
In the beginning the journey was towards identifying the difficulties, prioritizing the topics that needed to be tackled, finding people from all teams within the company that were willing to engage in this change story and finding a consultant who would be able to understand Nordeck. The introduction of unFIX came later in the process.
Kim Duggan, an external consultant from embarc Software Consulting GmbH and change companion, and the internal change team initiated the process with extensive exploration and experimentation. They identified the following key divers for the change process to start with:
Purpose – People need to know, understand, and accept the company’s vision to be able to work towards a common goal.
Structure - The existing structure hindered people sometimes or lacked the clarity they needed to be able to act.
With that in mind, they drafted potential organizational structures, looked at existing models, and decided to go with the unFIX model because it seemed to be able to be adapted to Nordeck’s specific needs and was easy to unFIX again in a dynamic business environment and they were able to add their experience in self-organization to the Nordeck unFIX model.
Work in progress with Kim Duggen, getting a first idea of what Nordeck’s unFIX model could look like. At this stage, the conversation was with Hato Nordeck and an internal cross-functional team that was interested in working on Nordeck’s future organizational model.
Navigating the unFIX Expedition, Addressing Challenges and Patience in Transformation
In the beginning, the change team was raising numerous questions about governance, leadership decision-making, and the role of various teams. This phase involved engaging different organizational areas, starting with the founder Hato Nordeck in his different capacities and extending to the rest of the staff. It became evident quite quickly that unFIX offered not one answer to all the questions Nordeck had. Moreover, and most significantly it offered a good foundation for the company to be able to grow and adapt in the future.
The journey was not without its trials. While some improvements were evident, significant pain points persisted, requiring further attention and resolution. This period demanded patience and a willingness to continually reassess and adapt the approach to meet emerging needs.
Hato Nordeck speaks openly about his challenges, how sometimes things moved too slowly for him, and how he’d hoped his key pain points would be solved much quicker. In hindsight, he also accepts that the evolution of the model at Nordeck needed its time.
With the first drafts many questions followed. A core team of two employees at Nordeck started familiarizing themselves with the model, read through community posts and tried to craft solutions to questions and challenges that were Nordeck’s own. After 6 months they were ready to formalize the model and present to the rest of the company.
Formalizing the unFIX Model
The formal decision to adopt unFIX was made in January 2023, one year after the initial retrospective that kicked off the change at Nordeck in the first place, following a series of workshops, discussions, and learning about unFIX by applying the model on paper (or a Miro board). This pivotal moment involved a consent decision-making process and the formation of an Organizational Development Forum.
The forum was and is instrumental in shaping the new structure. It ensures that the change is not a point in time but an evolutionary process. The forum at this point is staffed with facilitators who are organized in a capability crew and work in all other crews in the Nordeck base. That ensures that unFIX ambassadors are present in every crew.
Also, Nordeck does a meetup every month with the whole company. News and adaptations to the existing model are communicated to staff there.
One Year Unfix on the Road
Did they change the structure for the better? It is a work in progress, and it is evident that it always will be. What the unFIX Model brought to Nordeck is clarity and a common language.
One of the critical challenges in implementing unFIX was the complexity of roles within the organization. Many individuals, including key change agents like Hato Nordeck and Katja Kruschwitz, now chair of the organizational development forum, were engaged in multiple roles across different crews. Many roles that the role holders were not even conscious about but did the work. Mapping them out, and placing them in corresponding crews made gaps evident and gave way to talk about staffing, responsibilities, and decision-making.
A significant realization during this process was the necessity of structures and processes in agile, self-organized organizations. While Nordeck already had numerous structures and rules, the transition to unFIX highlighted the need for more streamlined and effective processes to enhance organizational efficiency and clarity and make them ready for a change in their business model.
Did the gap in leadership structure close? First and foremost, again it gave a language to talk about leadership and where it’s needed. The unFIX model was flexible enough to be molded to Nordeck’s needs in the beginning. It became visible that in a self-organized company, all employees need to be leaders in one way or another. But it also gave a foundation to where formal leadership need to be placed.
To enable staff to take on leadership and decision-making, Nordeck used inspiration from Holacracy and Sociocracy 3.0 to describe roles and crews by their purpose, domain, and accountabilities. Also, the facilitators play a crucial role in bringing that knowledge to their respective crews and bring back pain points and questions into the organizational development forum, so they can be addressed and unFIXed.
Did the purpose, and the company’s vision get accepted better. Again, it is a work in progress, but also unFIX brought a foundation, a language, and clarity to the task.
For the first year the Nordeck unFIX Model looked something like this with minor changes to address challenges that weren’t evident at the drawing board.
First Major unFIX of unFIX
About one year into using the unFIX model, Nordeck embarked on a significant restructuring to increase organizational flexibility. This involved dissolving capability crews and integrating developers into value streams, reflecting the company’s growth and increased self-organization maturity. This major restructure, while challenging, was crucial for aligning the organizational structure with the evolving business and operational needs.
This major unFIX is still going on. The next steps are a remodeling of the governance crew and empowerment of the experience crew. Also, the forum that was responsible for getting unFIX@Nordeck 1.0 onto the road will close the shop. That doesn’t mean that Nordeck stops evolving. On the contrary, the facilitation crew is well-coordinated. Working on the model and adapting to current needs is already second nature to the crew.
The upcoming major changes aren’t as evident in the model itself. They have more to do with reworking the purpose, domain and accountability of several crews. The detailed descriptions help Nordeck on their way of making transparent the transformation in culture.
Conclusion: A Model of Continuous Evolution
Nordeck's journey with unFIX is a testament to the power of adaptability and the willingness to embrace change in a dynamic business environment. The transition into the unFIX structure underscores the company's commitment to evolving in response to internal and external challenges. It makes the company ready for its next evolution.
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Many thanks to Hato Nordeck, Patrick T. Chmielewski & Kim Nena Duggen for the time they made available for this case study.