Structure Eats Strategy

Jan Bosch's influential piece argues that most companies approach organizational design backwards, letting existing structure dictate strategy instead of the reverse. He introduces the BAPO model (Business-Architecture-Process-Organization) showing how companies should start with business strategy but often operate in reverse (OPAB), where existing organization drives convenience-based processes and accidental architecture. Engineering leaders will learn to recognize when organizational constraints prevent optimal strategic execution and how to 'start from the B, not the O' to ensure business strategy drives organizational decisions rather than being constrained by current structure.