Tension between experimentation and standardization

Category: Perspectives on the Journey

This is a tension you will almost certainly encounter. As you start reinventing your organization, teams will start experimenting with all sorts of new practices. Which is great... and can become confusing, when different teams all do things differently.

This tension easily leads to two opposite pitfalls. I've seen some organizations who standardize things from the start or too early. They forego all the learning and the spirit of adventure and ownership that comes with experimenting. Other organizations fall for the opposite trap: they experiment seemingly forever and never want to standardize anything (standardizing is so old world!), which leads to much unnecessary pain and confusion. 

Bonus insight: some practices might never need to be standardized. 

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