Red Lines

There’s been a lot of talk about Theresa May’s “Red Lines” in the media recently.

Every organisation I’ve ever known has had their own Red Lines – ideas, principles, practices and policies which are deemed unacceptable, beyond the pale. Many of these latter would make the organisation markedly more effective, efficient or profitable, yet are ruled out.

Here’s a list of such ideas, in roughly increasing order of benefit and unacceptability both:

Transparency of salaries

Attending to folks’ needs

Nonviolence

Restorative justice (vs Retributive justice)

Self-organising / self-managing teams

No estimates

No projects

No tools

No software

Defect prevention (ZeeDee) approach to Quality (vs Testing / Inspection)

Employees choosing their own tools, languages and development hardware

Employees designing / owning their own physical workspace(s)
(colour schemes, lighting, furniture, floor plans, drinks machines, games etc.) 

Employees choosing their own ways of working (methods, processes)

Organising to optimise Flow (vs costs)

Employees choosing their own working locations (office, cafe, remote, etc.)

Employees choosing their own working hours (incl. hours per day / week)

Employees forming their own teams

Employees guiding their own training and career, skills development

Employees hiring their own peers (and coaches)

Paramountcy of interpersonal relationships and social skills (vs tech skills)

Organisational Psychotherapy

Teams appointing their direct managers

Teams appointing their senior managers

“Open book” financials

Employees choosing their own salaries and terms of employment

Teams awarding themselves their own bonuses

No managers (alternatives to control hierarchies)

Fellowship (No positional leadership)

Do nothing that is not play

Where does your organisation draw its red lines – and how much more effective could it be if it redrew them?

– Bob