#143 – Organising for Outcomes: Lessons from Org Topologies and 10x Orgs – with Alexey Krivitsky

Podcast Notes

In this episode, Alexey argues that many of the organisational challenges companies face today are not the result of poor execution, but of structural choices that have become invisible over time. 

Drawing on years of experience in agile transformations and organisational consulting, he introduces the Org Topologies approach as a way to make those choices explicit and open to discussion.

Through examples from product development and large-scale software organisations, he explains how seemingly rational decisions can create isolated teams, conflicting priorities, and costly dependencies that slow organisations down.

Together, we explore how organisational design should be treated as a series of contextual choices rather than universal best practices, and how AI is increasing the urgency of rethinking the boundaries.

Key highlights

👉 Organisational design is contextual – there are no universally “correct” structures, only structures that are fit or unfit for a particular purpose and environment.

👉 The distinction between outputs and outcomes is critical: producing more activity does not necessarily create more customer value.

👉 Organisations should start by understanding the customer problems that exist to solve before redesigning teams, processes, or operating models.

👉 Many transformation efforts focus on implementing frameworks, yet struggle to articulate what capabilities or outcomes they are actually trying to achieve.

👉 Domain boundaries, software architecture, and team ownership should not automatically mirror one another; these are simply design choices.

👉 Creating dedicated teams around platforms, domains, or components can unintentionally generate isolated kingdoms that optimise locally rather than for the whole system.

👉 Organisational flexibility is essential because products, architectures, and customer needs continuously evolve; rigid structures often make change more difficult.

👉 Collaboration challenges are rarely solved through hierarchy alone – they require thoughtful choices about ownership, coordination, incentives, and shared responsibility.

👉 As AI increases the capabilities of individuals and small teams, organisations may benefit from broader boundaries and fewer unnecessary divisions of work.

👉 The future of organisational effectiveness lies not in adopting a specific framework, but in continuously questioning assumptions and redesigning structures to match changing realities.

Topics (chapters):

00:00 Organising for Outcomes: Lessons from Org Topologies and 10x Orgs – INTRO

01:30 Introducing Alexey Krivitsky

02:31 Mapping the Unknown: Why Org Topologies Was Born

05:41 Value Proposition in Organisations

17:27 What’s the smallest unit of organizing?

19:39 Mapping Organisational Topologies

31:17 What’s the missing language in collaboration?

53:11 Breadcrumbs and Suggestions