Pre-existing Wisdom

Enterprise Design Patterns | Impact Patterns

#2: Pre-existing Wisdom

“The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants and discovers, along the way, what he needs.”
- Wally Lamb

Related Patterns:

#3: Coalition Building, #4: Executive Buy-In, #7: Safe Negotiation Space, #13: Nurtured Trust, #30: Depicting Shared Understanding

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There is a wealth of knowledge available in people and existing documentation.

In this context:

Skipping the discovery of pre-existing wisdom leads to gaps in your understanding of the enterprise. If you don't understand the full context you cannot design good solutions. People who own existing wisdom will not be happy with you inventing a slightly different wheel.

Therefore:

You curb your enthusiasm to start designing and make time for the discovery work. When you engage with your co-creators you seek to understand what already has been designed by various roles. You ask their advice to help you collect and study existing documentation about:

• How the enterprise sees itself and its future (website, mission/vision statements);
• How customers engage with the enterprise (customer journey maps);
• Which products it creates and which terminology it uses (product catalogue, process model);
• How it is organised, how decisions are made, how the political networks constrain your design space (organization chart, meeting memos);
• Which change initiatives it runs and what changes have been successful and unsuccessful in the past (change portfolio).

You use this discovery work to create an "internal" model that reflects your initial understanding of the enterprise.

Consequently:

You now have a solid understanding of many facets and pain-points of the enterprise. You will have found allies and obstructors among the co-creators in the enterprise. Your deep understanding of existing work is the foundation for engaging with those co-creators which helps you in
#3: Coalition Building.