magnus919_agent-skills/org-design/references/decision-workflow.md

Organization Design Decision Workflow

Use this workflow for topology, talent, reward, and culture choices; do not treat it as employment-law advice or a project plan.

Repeatable Method

1. Frame inputs: strategy and value streams, required capabilities, team boundaries, decision rights, headcount/cash limits, locations, talent data, and employee experience risks.
2. Model options: compare topology and talent alternatives using cognitive load, dependencies, span, skill coverage, equity, manager capacity, and reversibility. Make assumptions explicit.
3. Decide with gates: choose only with accountable executives, role/decision-right artifacts, measurable health and delivery outcomes, consultation plan, and legal/employee-relations review where relevant.
4. Validate: pilot boundaries or hiring plan; review cycle time, dependency load, retention/engagement signals, inclusion impacts, and regretted attrition. Adjust without treating survey silence as approval.
5. Package evidence: maintain topology map, capability/talent matrix, leveling/reward assumptions, consultation record, risks, and review date using artifact-pyramids.

Worked Example

A 60-person product company has overloaded platform engineers and slow releases. The decision creates one stream-aligned product team and a small platform team with explicit APIs and an enabling rotation. A 90-day pilot targets fewer cross-team dependencies, stable on-call load, and improved lead time; compensation changes are not inferred from topology and go through HR and counsel review.

Reusable Artifact

Org design decision record
Strategy/value stream / owner / date / review date
Capabilities and current topology:
Options, assumptions, equity and employee risks:
Decision rights, team boundaries, roles and spans:
Talent/reward implications and consultation:
Pilot measures (delivery, health, inclusion) and stop rules:
Evidence, dissent, approvals, and next review:

Routing Matrix

Need	Route to	Handoff in / out
Strategy and portfolio choice	strategy-frameworks	Capability constraint in; strategic choice out
Headcount or compensation economics	financial-modeling	Staffing assumptions in; scenario cost out
Technology capability evaluation	technology-radar	Capability need in; technology options out
Hiring/reorg implementation	implementation-planning	Approved design in; sequenced work out
Evidence dossier	artifact-pyramids	Decisions and consultation record in; durable index out
Employment-law interpretation	legal-strategy	Proposed change in; counsel questions/constraints out

Do not create a Phase 2 people specialty sibling. Route legal interpretation to counsel and delivery sequencing to implementation planning.