tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667378499135678086.post2397838399319156424..comments2012-01-26T09:48:34.723-05:00Comments on Musings on project management: Experience from synergyJohn Goodpasture, PMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04852874885562983654noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667378499135678086.post-63517984527904031912012-01-26T09:48:34.723-05:002012-01-26T09:48:34.723-05:00You are correct about matrix organizations: Tom Al...You are correct about matrix organizations: Tom Allen, in the book you cite "The Organization and Architecture of Innovation: Managing the Flow of Technology" on pages 38 -42 describes the traditional matrix, and what Allen calls the "battle zone" of conflict between opposing management teams, and the need to keep a balance so that either the project or the functional organization does not overwhelm. Having been a "battle zone" manager on both sides at different times, both as a functional director and a project director, Mr Allen is very accurate in his description. However, there can not be a true balance else nothing really gets decided. There needs to be a slight weighting to one side. For my money, it's the project side.<br /><br />However, Mike Cohn is not proposing a matrix organization. He is not proposing what Allen describes. He is advocating a strong project that has a outward flow of ideas and experience to "birds of a feather" gatherings horizontally oriented so that persons of common interests can share knowledge and experience. It's kind of like going to Spanish Club after classes in high scool. <br /><br />Diagrammatically, it is drawn as a matrix, but it differs from "matrix organization" in that it is not functionally managed as a matrix. That is to say: the horizontals may not conform to the functional organization at all; they conform to common interests. And, the functional practitioners are not pointing towards the project, as in Mr Allen's diagram (Fig 2-7), but rather the project's practitioners are pointing outward to common gatherings of SMEs with common interests.John Goodpasture, PMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04852874885562983654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667378499135678086.post-39726020617646491372012-01-25T23:03:48.689-05:002012-01-25T23:03:48.689-05:00I don't get that Mike Cohn's premise is an...I don't get that Mike Cohn's premise is any different than a matrix organization, as described in Tom Allen's _The Organization and Architecture of Innovation: Managing the Flow of Technology_. Tom describes the benefits and challenges of a properly balanced matrix organization, one dimension being technology focused, the other dimension being market focused.Hank Roarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11136978419401330047noreply@blogger.com