This post explores the phrase 'breaking down the silos' and presents alternative strategies that include the concepts of refactoring, networking, neural networks, and complex adaptive systems to improve the effectiveness of new product development (NPD).
Some individuals accept the admonition to 'break the silos' as 'good advice.' Other individuals have the expectation that the process of 'breaking down the silos' will be accompanied by an unpleasant disruption of current workflows and a dilution of effort.
The function of a silo
Outside of NPD, some silos are recognized as beneficial. Farmers use enclosed structures to store grain. The military uses them to shelter missiles.
Are there beneficial silos in NPD? If so, silos that produce the intended results should be preserved, nurtured, and improved.
Common usage of the phrase 'breaking down the silos' in business environments
In the United States, the phrase 'breaking down the silos' has become synonymous with removing barriers in business environments. The typical intent of this generic prescription is to remove barriers within hierarchical organizations.
Within many new product development environments, the phrase 'breaking down the silos' has the connotation of removing barriers between functional groups to enhance cooperation. In such cases, the implication is that the removal of these barriers will improve the organization's performance.
Examples of detrimental conditions between functional groups include:
- Problems exchanging information
- Problems sharing and creating knowledge
- Disagreements about priorities
- Slow responses due to internal bureaucracy
In this hierarchical organization diagram, the vertical segments of the organization chart resemble the physical silos in the preceding image from a farm. Formal communication between individuals from different groups may require the participation of their managers. Ideas may be collected and reviewed by a committee before some are implemented.
In this diagram, four individuals are not designated as part of this NPD effort but are direct reports to managers that are assigned to the project. Two individuals do not report directly to a manager that is assigned to this project. Such inefficiencies may increase the administrative requirements without improving the NPD effectiveness.
Typically, context-sensitive solutions to remove barriers may include the adoption of:
- New processes
- New training programs
- New tools
An example of a beneficial silo
Some barriers are beneficial.
One of the most effective silos I have encountered was an NPD group at Hewlett-Packard. This group developed many successful, profitable products. Group members had many opportunities to improve their skills.
The group leader was an R&D manager. He protected his group from interruptions and distractions. His desk was positioned at the entrance to the work area and he scrutinized every visitor to the area. He worked on many tasks that required interaction with Marketing so that his team could concentrate on their primary assignments. He protected flow. The Wikipedia entry for flow (psychology) includes:
Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity... According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning.
Refactoring a silo
The phrase 'breaking down a silo' may have the connotation of indiscriminate destruction. The results of 'breaking down a silo' may have unintended consequences. Valuable qualities may be destroyed while removing detrimental barriers.
Instead of 'breaking down a silo,' consider the concept of refactoring. The Wikipedia entry for 'code refactoring' includes:
Code refactoring: the process of changing a computer program's internal structure without modifying its external functional behavior or existing functionality, in order to improve internal quality attributes of the software. Reasons include to improve code readability, to simplify code structure, to change code to adhere to a given programming paradigm, to improve maintainability, to improve performance, or to improve extensibility.
To improve the effectiveness an NPD team, consider ways to:
- Encourage effective interactions and minimize interruptions
- Maximize productivity and minimize rework
- Maximize knowledge creation
- Improve the level-of-mastery of team members
What refactoring techniques will be effective?
Network the silos
Before indiscriminately breaking down silos, analyze the beneficial aspects of each functional group. What are the potential detrimental consequences of breaking down these silos?
As an alternative to 'breaking down the silos,' consider ways to network the silos.
What are the benefits of networking silos instead of breaking them? Using a model similar to an Ethernet network suggests an improved way of exchanging information within a development team.
In this hierarchical organization with networked silos diagram, a portion of the information flows in and out of a central hub. Each silos has an equivalent connection to the hub. This model facilitates the introduction of new processes and tools within an NPD environment.
This model support concepts such as idea and information management.
Neural Networks
The connections in a neural network differ from those of an network that uses a central hub. In a neural network model, an individual can have from one to many connections with other agents (something that acts within the system). The connections are made and broken dynamically. The 'bandwidth' of the connections between individuals can grow or shrink depending on the qualities of the tasks.
This team that has connections that have formed like a neural network. Agents are proficient. Communication is efficient. Collaboration is facilitated.
Complex adaptive systems
A complex adaptive system is characterized by:
- Cooperative individual behavior
- Emergence of a community
- Adaptation to feedback
- Use of barriers and attractors
In this complex adaptive system for NPD that uses neural network concepts to facilitate interaction, innovation is facilitated.
An introduction to complex adaptive systems is included in my December 2008 Visions article. For more information on complex adaptive systems, examine the work of Dave Snowden at Cognitive-Edge.
Progressing from a coworker environment to cooperation and then to collaboration
An indiscriminate prescription to 'break down the silos' may not be the best strategy to improve results in a high performance NPD environment. The most effective NPD environments are more than a collection of coworkers juggling multiple assignments in a hierarchical organization.
A more effective NPD environment facilitates cooperation where agents form a network to develop new products.
The most effective NPD environments facilitate appropriate collaboration. The interaction of agents produce innovative solutions that are superior to the results of individuals working in isolation. These environments are synergistic. Such an environment is consistent with a complex adaptive system that uses neural network concepts.
To quote a line from Strawberry Fields Forever from the Beatles, the next time I hear a suggestion to improve NPD that includes breaking down the silos, "I think I disagree."
