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In large organizations that produce complex products, the supporting systems that enable operations are have become a legacy that heavily interferes with Business Agility. Regardless of excellency in transforming into Lean-Agile development, the tale burden of the legacy is far too long to be organized around value with effective Development Value streams that can execute structure is a strategic obstacle that inhibits execution in cadence and sync. A strategic obstacle is the long tail of legacy systems and outdated structuressynchronization. Thus, removing the benefits of enabling short feedback cycles as the underlying idea in Lean and Agile.
The solution to a very complex enterprise setup cannot be to work harder on defining value streams and continue to accelerate the Product Development flow. Instead, a macro-level view on value streams and the formation of modularized business entities can clarify business targets and create far better options for a successful Lean enterprise. The macro-level structure of a business controls the ability to operate a business, just as Jet Streams control the weather of the earth. I, therefore, call this high-level structure: Enterprise Jet Streams.
Modularization with viable business interfaces will reduce the complexity and remove the limitations any system ultimately will reach. The strategic forming of new business entities requires decisions on the highest level of authority and must be supported by business architecture competency.
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The power needed to rebuild fundamental organizational structures belongs to the highest level of decision-making. Determination to form new business entities is often for the board to engage in organizational design and decide about the business model and principles for operations.
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In one monolith enterprise, the lead time for creating the required new structures is far too long compared to what speed of the market.
Modularized business models
We have seen this happen in many industries before. Telecom is maybe the clearest example where there are infrastructure providers, operators, and then Google and Apple at the top. Also, the automotive business has modularization in their its blood and the industry is based on component suppliers that work for a multitude of brands. But will the brand owners be able to take the next leap to the top of the value pyramid, or will they become a commodity?
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