People
The individuals co-creating the enterprise or consuming products.
Description
People are individuals with an identity, motivation and intent, skills and expertise, background, story and personality. The roles people play in an enterprise relate to the activities they are expected to be involved in. A weakness of people is their unpredictability. A strength is their resilience, especially in unexpected situations. These human characteristics enable people to recover gracefully from disruptive situations, learn from mistakes and produce new enterprise value, where automated systems tend to fail and stay broken.
Examples
- A manufacturing business makes goods for private household customers and relies on investors and suppliers.
- An open-source software company works remotely with thousands of independent developers.
- An NGO works with volunteers to run campaigns and make their case to parliamentarians around the world.
- A startup company runs a two-sided marketplace to connect buyers and sellers on its digital platform.
- A medical research lab works with doctors, scientists and research participants to conduct their studies.
Use
- Understand the reason people play a certain role by identifying their identity.
- Understand the ownership and influence of people on the various parts of the enterprise design.
- Identify the people with the required background to realise a capability.
- Design new products by identifying potential customers and analysing their identities.
- Identifying future partners and describing them in terms of their identity.
Related
people perform activities people use structures people achieve outcomes people pursue purpose people co-create capabilities people get tasks done people collaborate in organisations people use products people perceive brand