Life in a Matrix

I was reminded by the great comment left by my mum on the podcast below about an example that often comes up on our skills for the matrix training about a very common form of matrix management - the matrix of mum and dad.

In a family, if the kids come to Dad and ask […]

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I found some well thought through posts on the blog “When IT goes bad” (you will need to scroll down to 17 March, Jan 27 & 19th posts on the page) on project management in a “weak matrix” (where control lies less with a project manager, and more with functional or resource managers)
The posts go into some detail […]

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In the previous post we looked at how matrix organization structures were introduced to increase flexibility in the way we access resources and get people to work together. 
In order to get increased flexibility we give up some of the clarity and certainty that came from single unified reporting relationships. It is important to realize that this […]

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One of the biggest differences in working and managing in a matrix organization structure is the fact that we may have multiple bosses.
Traditional hierarchy (literally “holy-order”) existed for thousands of years based on a single, clear line of command and control. It lasted so long for a good reason - it worked.
In a matrix we […]

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The second of the skills we cover in the pyramid model as part of our skills for matrix working training program is living with ambiguity.
Human beings seem to instinctively dislike ambiguity but the point of a matrix is to trade a reduction in clarity for an increase in flexibility.
As we already discovered in this post […]

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I found a good blog summary on using RASCI at PM Insights lots of resources and explanation of the traditional approach.
Don’t forget to read this in conjunction with my other post on adapting this approach to the matrix - If you can align goals you don’t need a matrix. Creating clarity where you can is important […]

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Last week was a whistle-stop tour of parts of the USA to visit clients and talk about some of their matrix organization issues. London-Detroit-Boston-New York-London.
Alignment came up, as always in a  matrix structure. We discussed that alignment is a good thing where we can bring clarity but that the purpose of a matrix organization is […]

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One of the main problems that our clients experience in making their matrix structures work is the difficulty in aligning conflicting priotiries and objectives from the different “legs” of the matrix.
If objectives are not aligned people can feel pulled in different directions like the character in our first cartoon.
But a matrix deliberately sacrifices some clarity […]

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