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STRATEGIC ORG DESIGN WITH PEOPLE AND AI

Org design
drives performance.

Org Topologies is a strategic org design system: a shared map, a common language and a learning loop that help leaders and consultants make organizations fit for purpose — with people and AI.

WHY ORG TOPOLOGIES

The agentic age runs on org design.

Inside narrow mandates, AI speeds up each individual and team while the system stays stuck — more motion, same bottlenecks.

A Ferrari effect: swap every car in a traffic jam for a Ferrari and the jam stays. Fix the road first.

Org Topologies helps fix the road: see your design, choose what to optimize for, and change it step by step — so AI’s speed turns into business results.

Org Topologies logo: an arrow elevating from Delivering to Driving

Shape your organization’s intelligence. 10x the impact.

THE MAP, STEP BY STEP

Org Topologies™

Map: a product manager and sales ops direct the invoicing, metering and finance teams, with an invoicing domain agent and a customer support agent.Sample OT MappingMapping status quoINCOMPLETECOMPLETEOUTCOMESOUTPUTSNARROWERBROADERSCOPE OF SKILLS MANDATENARROWERBROADERSCOPE OF WORK MANDATEDIRECTINGDRIVINGDOINGDELIVERINGSales opsInvoicing teamCustomer support agentProduct managerInvoicing domain agentFinance teamMetering team

Click a step to pause on it

How to map your org →

Certified Org Topologies Practitioner (C-OTP) badgeCertified Org Topologies Consultant (C-OTC) badge

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THE APPROACH

Change, MADE systemic

Change MADE systemic: Study (Map, Assess) and Improve (Design, Elevate) around org design, between strategy and performanceILLUSTRATION · 10X ORG · CC BY-ND · DOWNLOAD ↓

Org design sits between strategy and performance. MADE is the loop that keeps it fit, named after its four moves: Map, Assess, Design, Elevate. First study the design you have, then improve toward the design you need.

Studythe design you have

  1. 01
    MapPlace every unit by skills and work mandate
  2. 02
    AssessName the topology you have — and whether it fits

Improvethe design you need

  1. 03
    DesignImagine the organization you need, without today’s limits
  2. 04
    ElevateGet the change going with Elevating Katas

Four intelligences, shaped by mandates

What an organization can sense, decide and do does not live in its people or its tools. It emerges from the mandates each unit is given. Narrow mandates constrain intelligence; broad, coherent ones expand it. A position on the map describes organizational power, not human worth.

Work is done by agents of intelligence — org units: people, groups and AI. The same map of mandates applies to all of them — human, agent or robot. Place each by what it is allowed to learn and work on, not by its title.

  • DIRECTING

    Coordination intelligence

    Oversees the whole solution space with centralized control. Lacks skills to create value directly but adds value by coordinating others’ work through planning and control.

    EXAMPLE · A business analyst writing requirements.

    WITH AI · risks an illusion of control — unless it brings leaders closer to real work.

  • DRIVING

    Adaptive intelligence

    Focused on owning outcomes and shaping what gets built next. Blends discovery and delivery, using real customer signals to refine both the problem and the solution.

    EXAMPLE · A three-person startup, or a team-of-teams.

    WITH AI · a multiplier that eases cognitive load in new domains.

  • DOING

    Specialization intelligence

    Highly skilled in narrow domains. Excel at precision, quality, and efficiency within well-defined boundaries. Act as deep specialists focused on defined tasks rather than outcomes.

    EXAMPLE · A line cook executing recipes perfectly.

    WITH AI · automates tasks — but faster tasks only speed up local output.

  • DELIVERING

    Flow intelligence

    Creates value independently within a defined work area. Masters a complete Definition of Done, shipping results quickly while staying within defined boundaries.

    EXAMPLE · An e-commerce search team.

    WITH AI · as a teacher, lowers the cost of learning the wider system.

STUDY COMMON TOPOLOGIES

Three topologies, three goals

Each common topology combines different intelligences — specialization, flow, coordination, adaptive — and “shines” in a different environment.

  • Resource

    Doing + Directing (specialization + coordination intelligences)

    OPTIMIZES FOR
    Utilization & predictability
    BEST FOR
    Stable, process-driven environments
    TRADE-OFF
    Rigid when strategy shifts
  • Delivery

    Delivering + Directing (flow + coordination intelligences)

    OPTIMIZES FOR
    Speed & flow within boundaries
    BEST FOR
    Known work that fits the team structure
    TRADE-OFF
    Cross-cutting work needs coordination
  • Adaptive

    Driving (adaptive intelligence)

    OPTIMIZES FOR
    Adaptability & learning
    BEST FOR
    Volatile, innovation-driven contexts
    TRADE-OFF
    Challenges existing control structures

ELEVATE · STEP 4 OF MADE

Elevating Katas

Elevating is a deliberate move right and up on the map. The katas are the moves: small, repeatable routines that change how the organization works. A menu, not a sequence: start with the few that match your most pressing constraint.

Case studies rich in katas

All case studies with katas →

TESTIMONIALS

What practitioners say about Org Topologies

Leaders, coaches and consultants who mapped their organizations with Org Topologies.

10X ORG book cover

THE BOOK · POWERED BY ORG TOPOLOGIES

10X ORG

10X is not more activity. It is a tenfold increase in the organization's capability to learn, evolve, create value and stay strategically aligned.

A business novel with a working method inside. The CEO wants fewer hires and more AI. Hanna, head of HR, looks through the Org Topologies lens — and finds an org design misfit no tool can fix. Principles, maps and real case studies along the way.

ALEXEY KRIVITSKY · CRAIG LARMAN · ROLAND FLEMM

  • #1Best Seller · Business Management
  • #1Best Seller · Management Science
  • #1Best Seller · Strategic Management
More about the book ↗
“10X is a vote for humanity in an era obsessed with mechanical efficiency.”

WHAT REVIEWERS AND READERS SAY

WHY THIS BOOK

Craig Larman on 10X ORG

Craig Larman, co-author of 10X ORG and contributor to the Org Topologies model, on why he thinks this book matters.

Craig Larman on 10X ORG

ACADEMY

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