Dedicated Silos and Centralised Workload Distribution Teams working in dedicated silos (swim lanes) enable those staff, systems and robotics to become ‘field experts’ with the relevant internal/external clients and run a lean process. This approach is useful in a recurring situations e.g. budget holders receiving help from finance, or making cars on an assembly line. This approach is also useful for exploration work situations e.g. drilling for oil, or performing highly-skilled research. However, the silo approach also increases ‘single point of failure’ risk for the process as a whole.
Team working using a centralised workload distribution approach will aid the organisation becoming resource-lean. For example, energy-grid networks, emergency services providers, or a call centre. Person cover is less of an issue as well. Another situation where this approach is necessary, is in a start-up organisation, before it reaches the ‘crisis of autonomy’ stage, where a set of specialised staff must be hired in order to grow further.
Take a ‘horses for courses’ approach. But try to standardise the data structures, process methods, security and legal compliance aspects, even where the most value is obtaining from a customised customer-facing approach.
Simon Leicester
SME Consultant