Andrew Campbell

A moto in 1987 when I left the faculty of London Business School to set up the Ashridge strategy centre with Michael Goold was "no bosses and no subordinates"

I am beginning to realize that clarity about who your customer is, even when you are working in a department inside a large organization, helps you work much better ... and is often a non trivial question. Look at your job description. Does it identify your internal customers?

Just donated to my nephew Oscar’s Marathon in aid of cancer research and in memory of my sister Harriet who is not longer with us gofundme.com/f/oscars-marath…

Just posted a blog on operating model design in the age of agility. Are these two concepts compatible? ashridgeonoperatingmodels.co…

Spent two half days with a group of ITSMf members - that is service management people - discussing operating models. Very impressed with their interest in and grasp of the Operating Model Canvas.

Jeffries, All organizations carry deadwood/non-value adding activities, which is why "lean" has been so successful. Happy to explain why this happens, but it is a particular problem in HQ, and it is not just dead wood, it is also poisonous wood.

As companies look for cost savings, a good place to start is with headquarters. Cost cutting here can often stimulate savings in many other places. So review the design of your headquarters rdcu.be/b5L8Q

The wikipedia definition of the term operating model is worth reading. I have just done some edits to it, thinking about the student audience. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operat…

Well done Chris.

Well spotted Tim, I have stopped listening to BBC news because of its negativity and focus on the trivial.

Nice easy read article about operating model design from Berkeley Partnership. Doesn't say much about location or suppliers, but good on the process of design Adapting-your-Operating-Model-to-support-new-busin berkeleypartnership.com/news…

Rethinking Everything: Operating Model Canvas neverstop.co/rethinking-ever…

Just received an email from the Business Architecture Guild with information about new "industry reference models". I find it hard to get enthusiastic about industry reference models. Since every organisation is unique, the very concept seems wrong. What do you think?

I assumed that capability decomposition was the breaking down of a higher level into its components. But it can be the breaking down of a "group" into its different capabilities. Am I right Tim? Is there a way of signalling what is a group and what is a capability?

Tim introduces the concept of "capability groups". I had assumed that a capability, such as "marketing management", would always involve the same bundle of resources to deliver. But a capability group, is a sort of container for capabilities that share some commonality.

I have always been concerned about the tendency in capability modelling to use the same term, such as marketing management for two or more very different forms of marketing.

Not sure I agree fully with this. Yes design principles first, yes value propositions and value chains next, but then it should be organisation of value chain bits, followed by organisation of support functions, then in any order IT, locations, suppliers and management systems.