Lars Barkman

One Mode and Five Types Is All That You Need | Lars Barkman After working with various organizational models—from matrix structures to Team Topologies—I've discovered a pattern that emerges when organizations successfully implement team-based frameworks: they ...

📝 Read the full post here:
“One Mode and Five Types Is All That You Need”
larsbarkman.com/blog/one-mod...

Let me know what you think 👇

Do we really need complex org models?
I’m starting to think: no.

💡 One mode: X-as-a-Service
🔧 Five types:
🧑‍💻 Customer
🏢 Enabling
🛠️ Platform
🧠 Excellence
🧭 Stewardship

Not a new model. Just a clearer lens.

📝 New post — link in reply 👇
#OrgDesign #TeamTopologies #OperatingModel

Making Daily Check-ins Meaningful: A Flow-Focused Approach | Lars Barkman Learn a practical 15-minute flow-focused approach to daily check-ins that builds systems thinking, improves team coordination, and drives predictable delivery through strategic work prioritization.

🚦 Imagine your team’s daily check-in focused on what really matters:
✨ Start with exceptions
🗺 Walk the board
📏 Make capacity visible
🔍 Spot trends

In just 15 mins → alignment, focus & predictable delivery.
Full post 👉 larsbarkman.com/blog/making-...

Why I Prefer Stakeholder Stories | Lars Barkman Picture this: You're in a product planning meeting, and someone reads out a user story: 'As a user, I want to receive email notifications so that I stay informed about updates.' Everyone nods. It soun...

👀 Why I prefer Stakeholder Stories:

Too often, “the user” is a fiction hiding the real business driver.

In order to 🎯 [outcome]
As 🧑‍💼 [stakeholder]
I want 🧩 [capability]

Outcome first. Name the real owner. Features become tools—not goals. 📈

Full post 👉 larsbarkman.com/blog/why-i-p...

Beyond Team Structure: Why Intrinsic Motivation Drives Performance | Lars Barkman Why even the best team structures fail without intrinsic motivation. How autonomy, mastery, and purpose transform knowledge workers from compliant to committed, creating sustainable competitive advant...

🚨 Even the best team structures fail without intrinsic motivation.

From Daniel Pink’s Drive:
📊 +67% retention
⚙️ +21% productivity
💡 +43% innovation

3 keys: Autonomy • Mastery • Purpose

Full post 👉 larsbarkman.com/blog/beyond-...

The Power of Working in Pairs | Lars Barkman Beyond team size: How strategic pairing creates resilient, high-performing teams by establishing intentional structures that maximize collaboration and minimize coordination overhead.

🚀 Right‑sized team but underperforming?

The issue isn’t headcount — it’s structure.

Strategic pairing makes 5–9 person teams resilient & high‑performing.

Read 👉 larsbarkman.com/blog/the-pow...

#Leadership #Teams #Collaboration

Right-Sizing Your Teams: How to Fix Size Problems | Lars Barkman This comprehensive guide helps engineering leaders identify and solve team size problems. Learn to recognize the telltale signs of oversized, undersized, and underutilized teams, then apply structured...

Last week: why 7±2 is the sweet spot for high‑performing teams.
This week: how to get there without losing momentum or culture.

🚨 Too big → slow decisions
⚠️ Too small → burnout
😴 Low work → disengagement

Playbooks: spot, fix & keep teams in the sweet spot → larsbarkman.com/blog/right-s...

The Science of Team Size: Why Too Big or Too Small Breaks Performance | Lars Barkman The science is clear: team size is a critical factor in performance. Too large, and communication overhead crushes productivity; too small, and you lack resilience. Discover why the 7±2 sweet spot bal...

Teams of 5–9 people often deliver better results:
🚀 Faster delivery
🧪 More innovation
📉 Less coordination waste

Team size is a powerful performance lever.
🔗 larsbarkman.com/blog/the-sci...

Beyond Architecture: Exploring Alternative Metaphors for the Enterprise | Lars Barkman This post challenges the dominance of the architectural metaphor as the primary lens for enterprise design and explores more dynamic alternatives. By examining how metaphors shape our thinking, we con...

Is “architecture” the right metaphor for the enterprise — or just the most familiar?

Enterprises aren’t buildings. They evolve, adapt, grow.

🌱 What if we saw the enterprise more like a garden?

New post: larsbarkman.com/blog/explori...

#EnterpriseArchitecture #SystemsThinking

Visualization as Strategy: Transforming Complex Work into Clear Decisions | Lars Barkman Strategic visualization transforms team alignment, decision-making, and delivery outcomes. Learn key principles and practices that drive measurable business results through effective visual communicat...

Fastest path to shared understanding?

🧭 Not meetings.
🧠 Not docs.
👀 It’s visualization.

New post on using visuals to align, decide, and deliver:
🔗 larsbarkman.com/blog/visuali...

#leadership #teamalignment #visualthinking

Engineering Leadership: Making 1:1 Meetings Meaningful | Lars Barkman A practical approach to elevating 1:1 meetings into impactful coaching and alignment sessions, grounded in research and team psychology.

A quick 1:1 can be the highest-leverage thing you do all week.

But too many turn into status updates—or get canceled.

I wrote about how to make them meaningful: structure, principles, and when to adapt.

larsbarkman.com/blog/making-...

#Leadership #Engineering #1on1s

Web Frontend Rendering Strategies: A Strategic Decision-Maker's Guide | Lars Barkman This strategic guide helps technology leaders navigate the complex landscape of web rendering approaches—from CSR to SSR, SSG, and ISR—with a decision framework that aligns technical choices with busi...

Not all frontend rendering strategies are created equal.

In my latest post, I share a concise guide to modern rendering models and when to use them.

🔗 Read it here: larsbarkman.com/blog/web-fro...

#WebArchitecture #FrontendEngineering #Jamstack #React #Astro #Nextjs

Enterprises Are Systems Too: Designing for Competitive Advantage | Lars Barkman Enterprises function as systems where intentional design of operating models, interfaces, and feedback loops can dramatically reduce coordination overhead, accelerate decision-making, and create susta...

Enterprises are systems too.

Not in metaphor—but in architecture, behavior, and the way they scale or break.

In my latest post, I explore how thinking about an organization like a system can...

🔗 Read the full post: larsbarkman.com/blog/enterpr...

#EnterpriseArchitecture #OperatingModel

Fokus - Sveriges nyhetsmagasin Fokus är din källa för djuplodande nyheter, analyser och reportage om politik, samhälle och kultur. Få den senaste inblicken i viktiga frågor och trender.

Upptäckte Fokus via en podd. Kanske sist på bollen, men nu är det min favorit för analys och debatt om aktuella händelser. Rekommenderas varmt! #media #fokus #nyheter

www.fokus.se

”It-avtal en risk för svensk beredskap” DEBATT. Myndigheter och samhälls­viktiga verksamheter som accepterar amerikanska it-bolags standard­villkor ger ifrån sig en on/off-knapp till delar av den svenska stats­förvaltningen. Det skriver två...

Organisationer har alltid behövt en exit-plan för molntjänster, men tidigare oftast på egna villkor. Nu kan molnet bli en bricka i handelskonflikter—med kort tid att ställa om.

Dags för en riktig plan B. #molnet #säkerhet #gdpr #ITstrategi

www.svd.se/a/Vz2zld/adv...

Crossing the uncanny valley of conversational voice At Sesame, our goal is to achieve “voice presence”—the magical quality that makes spoken interactions feel real, understood, and valued.

Just tried Sesame’s AI chat, and it’s fascinating how the two ‘personas’ have such distinct behaviors and vibes. One is energetic and professional, while the other feels more like ‘the dude.’

The future looks bright! 🤖✨ #AI #Sesame #Chatbots

www.sesame.com/research/cro...