Our research has spanned a wide range of industries across all sectors, looking for examples of organizations that manage their resources in ways that are in direct contrast to the dominant silo paradigm. From a diverse set of examples that include both digital and physical and that cover experiences, offerings and organizations, we have identified seven core principles that flow based designs have in common.
Read MoreIt turns out that living systems offer up an alternative model to silos, one that is based not on accumulating and defending stocks of essential resources but instead on the continuous movement, or flow, of those resources across and throughout those systems.
Read MoreA new series on designing for Flow. This first piece revisits the topic of Silos to provide context for an extended discussion of Flows over the next several posts, going into a level of detail I haven’t covered here before.
Read MoreIf our hearts decided to hoard the blood like silos hoard information, expertise and other resources in our companies we’d die within seconds. Regardless of the resource they accumulate, silos compromise the well-being of the systems of which they’re a part, whether those systems are companies, industries, communities or ecosystems.
Read MoreSilos have a superpower, which is increasing the value of resources under their management, and they can do that in at least four different ways. If that sounds like a fairly modest kind of a superpower, in this post I will try to convince you otherwise.
Read MoreSilos, both metaphorically and literally, are ways of managing resources to ensure that the silo owner can get the most value out of them. All silos work the same way, whether their resources are people, information, grain, missiles, money, diamonds, water, commodities or anything else.
Read MoreOpen Road Tolling, a model in which drivers maintain their flow, is much safer for those drivers and their passengers than the alternative in which they have to come to a standstill and wait in line to be processed or served. It is also a much more efficient use of their time as well as their gas, and is thus a far better experience. It’s also a better solution for the toll operator, being cheaper to manage and to maintain than toll booths. And because it eliminates stopping and waiting it also increases fuel efficiency and reduces carbon monoxide and other emissions, providing an environmental benefit as well.
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