What Do Patterns Have To Do With Anything?

In life, few things are as predictable as the patterns that make up the universe around us, and yet, while they’re so visible to the naked eye, we often don’t see them. Two things likely are responsible for this blindness – the first being that we as humans are inherently uncomfortable with ambiguity (which we will delve into here) and the second that we tend to see that which we are looking for (something for another time).  

We are uncomfortable with uncertainty

This one rings true for me – it's personal and maybe a little triggering. I grew up seeking perfection, striving, achieving and being decorated with various accolades because of it. I kept trying to find peace through certainty – if I had the “right” answer in school, the“right” action and the “right” way to present myself in society, I would be successful (by a certain professional definition of success). On the outside, I look fine! Even successful... but I was struggling inside. For so long, I’d sought approval of a “right way”, that I needed a formula to help me with everything in life. I would cringe when asked for MY opinion! Developing an opinion would mean that I’d have to develop my own understanding of something, it meant that I’d potentially enter conflict, and having an opinion meant that I’d almost certainly be wrong (to the people who didn’t share it). It was so unnerving, that I’d surround myself with people who were like me, so that when I did mature to the point of having an opinion – I'd almost certainly be sharing it with people who felt the same way and where it was safe.

I’m not sure exactly at what point things changed for me, but I discovered that chasing certainty is fickle –it’s merely giving an illusion of control. There is no certainty in things that are emergent and because most of life is emergent, there is no planning our way to perfect outcomes.

Formulas and Frameworks Are Chasing Certainty

I share my story because it has direct relevance to what we see happening in our day-to-day business world. How often do we as leaders seek out established frameworks or success formulas when we are looking to change something?  When we are looking to scale what is working on one or two agile teams to more teams, why is it that we instantly look to one of the SAFe, Less, Nexus, Spotify Model etc frameworks? Do these frameworks somehow hold better the promise of success in our specific contexts than trying to distill the shortlist of problems we need to solve for and test and learn our way to scaling?

Frameworks have their merits. They are a fantastic starting point to help us contextualize what something may look like. They may suggest various management strategies that address real pain points and provide a structured approach to tackling issues. Frameworks give a sort of basic recipe to follow, but they are not a panacea. They inherently lack the ability to flex and/or adapt when something doesn’t fit and they’re poor at addressing the root causes of various problems. While their promise of success tends to be effective at mitigating concerns of risk in various organizational factions, the “tried and true” claims give a semblance of simplicity, and take the thinking out of the doing which ends up being both a pitfall and risk.

What if we Looked at Patterns Instead?

As preschoolers we learn about shapes and colours. In kindergarten we start learning about AB patterns in the context of understanding numbers. Children are naturally attuned to patterns because it allows them to make sense of their world and contextualize what otherwise can be big and scary.  When we see patterns, we can make predictions; we can count on things happening, which in turn helps us feel more secure and confident. Patterns create structure in our lives, and where it feels like there is no pattern and everything is chaos, chances are there is still a pattern lurking somewhere, waiting to be uncovered.  

What Do We Mean By Patterns?

In the business world, as in music, math and natural science, there are patterns too, albeit they may not exactly be what we think they are. Originating in 1977, the book ”A Pattern Language: Towns,Buildings, Construction”  by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein, describes patterns as something that can both describe a problem and offer a solution. While the pattern languages described originate in architecture, the idea has since been applied in software as the 1994 work of Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham to create Design Patterns, then in 2004 further expanded upon to discuss Organizational Patterns in Agile Software development (Coplien,Harrison), and most recently in 2008 addressed Patterns of Strategy (Hoverstadt, Loh.

Patterns are Fit for Complexity

If you’ve been around in business for anything longer than a few months, chances are that you will have witnessed an interesting array of complex problems. While they may not all have had great solutions, chances are that over time we will have developed an understanding of how similar problems can be solved. These themes can be understood as patterns, that is, a grouping of typical solutions to common (yet complex) problems providing a deeper understanding of the underlying issues.  So, what if we started looking to patterns in business instead of frameworks to help us make predictions and create security and confidence?

Patterns to Solve the Agile Scaling Problem

The wonderful point of patterns is that they’re specifically not prescriptive, but rather, fit for purpose. If you think of a framework like a novice baker using a recipe (specific amounts of a specific ingredient, in a specific order, done in a specific way), then a pattern is what an experienced chef may use (understand the ingredients we can swap out, and make adjustments to the others based on it) to create something equally tasty.  If we take an example of the need for product development alignment within teams working on different areas of the same product, we might look at a shared product backlog, a Product Owner team, or a Scrum of Scrums as different practices to address the pain point. Alternatively, if we want to mitigate organizational risk and get fast feedback for a concept before we invest too many resources, depending on our context, we might look to user concept testing, sprint reviews or shadow testing (selling an offer before the product or service exists).

Patterns are High in Abstraction

However wonderful patterns are at helping to guide us to outcomes, they invariably are not silver bullets. One significant barrier is the level of abstraction inherent in patterns. Patterns are high-level descriptions that require interpretation and adaptation to fit specific contexts, and this makes them somewhat daunting for those of us juggling time constraints and competing priorities.  They require experience across various contexts, and the ability to filter out the signal from the noise. Where frameworks may be plug and play, the cognitive effort required to translate patterns into concrete actions can be a hurdle, making this approach less accessible and giving the appearance of higher risk.

Making Patterns Work for You

To make pattern thinking more accessible, organizations can take several steps.

First, investing in education and training can demystify the concept of patterns and provide practical tools for applying them. (Check out our Scaling training, we delve deep into patterns there!)

Additionally, creating space for sharing learnings and experiences around common challenges can serve as the basis for your repository of organizational patterns.  

Lastly, it sometimes helps to bring in external advisors who have a lens and perspective unique to those with experience across many applications. These third parties can act as a scaffold to your organization by reflecting to you what they see and offering advice, or helping you establish practices (the antidote) that target your patterns.

Use them with Frameworks as a Starting Point

While frameworks serve as comprehensive starting points, they are designed to be applied broadly. They can overlook the nuances of specific challenges, and the complexity and dynamism of organizational issues often exceed the scope of any given framework. In contrast, pattern thinking encourages a more nuanced examination of problems, recognizing that the same issue can manifest differently across organizations. By focusing on the underlying principles rather than prescriptive steps, pattern thinking allows for more flexible and creative problem-solving.

The key then is to look at frameworks as robust starting points, rather than the blueprint roadmap solution for our needs, and apply pattern thinking to deduce practical and adaptable solutions that are precisely fit for purpose.

So, the next time you're faced with a complex organizational challenge, take a step back. Observe the patterns, understand the dynamics, and create a solution tailor-made for your organization giving you more flexibility to navigate uncertainty.

If you’re finding identifying patterns troublesome in your world, or have a specific challenge yet aren’t sure what the pattern itself is, we at IncrementOne can step in to help. More than just training providers, we also have decades of service across industries, functional areas and organizations under our belt which means that we’re quite attuned to recognizing and implementing relevant patterns. We are ready to help you navigate through ambiguity and transform it into structured, predictable outcomes, customized for your unique needs. With the right support and resources, pattern thinking can become a powerful tool in the organizational problem-solving arsenal, fostering a culture of adaptability and innovation. Connect with us to set up a no obligation discovery call and see how we can help!

Alexander, C.(1977). A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford UniversityPress.

Gamma, E.,Helm, R., Johnson, R., & Vlissides, J. (1994). Design Patterns: Elements ofReusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley.

Snowden, D. J.,& Boone, M. E. (2007). "A Leader’s Framework for DecisionMaking." Harvard Business Review.

Denning, S.(2010). "Leader’s Guide to Radical Management." Forbes.

Senge, P. M.(1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the LearningOrganization. Doubleday/Currency.

Stacey, R. D.(2001). Complex Responsive Processes in Organizations: Learning and KnowledgeCreation. Routledge.

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