DISCLAIMER: I'm a Trekkie, married to a Warsie, so the science fiction and space opera genres are part of my life. If you haven't seen any of the Star Wars movies, I truly do recommend them and specifically in this order: 4-5-6-1-2-7. There is no episode 3. (Just kidding). Episode 8 will be in theatres by the end of 2017.

But let's get to the point here.

Base Company was the third Mobile Operator in Belgium and stayed within the top 3 market leaders, even today now the organisation has gone through a new change. Their IT was part of the technology department that was also responsible for the mobile network, from design to operations. Within the IT organization were a couple of hundred people, a mix of people on the payroll together with externals from several (strategic) partners. Their main integration partner was an Indian company, covered by a managed service contract, working in a strong phase-gate scenario.

Why are there so many IT people out there who have the feeling they're actually a firefighter? Why do they have the feeling to be jumping from one burning house to another? Why do they have the feeling work is driven by fire alarms? Why is it that the loudest voice in the office, the biggest fire, gets things done?

A bunch of questions I asked myself too, and there are some organizational patterns that we should consider. Once you know them, you can beat them!

If you are not moving at the speed of the marketplace you're already dead - you just haven't stopped breathing yet. - Jack Welch

The organizational structure in which most of us operate today can be quite an obstacle to respond adequately to a fast-changing business environment. In fact, traditional organizational structures are not designed to deal with a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. This leads to employees feeling disengaged from their companies, and to companies being outmanoeuvred by their competition.