https://molsen.ca/tags/organizational-change/Recent content in Organizational Change on Mike OlsenHugo -- gohugo.ioen-caFri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/eka-in-practice/Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/eka-in-practice/We’ve deployed Executable Knowledge Architecture at a professional services firm with significant liability exposure. The implementation details are competitive advantage and can’t be shared publicly, but the pattern is transferable. Orientation, Controls, and Methodology Records New users experience the oracle pattern’s failure mode firsthand by role playing during the orientation. They are prompted to ask naive questions and receive plausible (and possibly correct!) answers but then discuss how those answers cannot be verified without reproducing the effort to obtain them independently.https://molsen.ca/writing/universal-interface-thesis/Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/universal-interface-thesis/Agentic AI as Universal Interface describes how code generation connects expertise to systems for software, analysis, and business logic. The same approach can apply beyond knowledge work. Code generation can provide an interface to any system that accepts commands, including manufacturing equipment, building automation, medical devices, networks, and enterprise software. The user needs to know the desired outcome. The Current Model Manufacturers or third parties design equipment-specific screens, menus, and workflows based on their expectations of user needs.https://molsen.ca/writing/office-availability-math/Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/office-availability-math/The Return of the Assistant uses 80% as an estimate of mutual availability for two people on the same 9–5 schedule in one office. That is generous; actual availability for a synchronous handoff is much lower. Annual Overlap: Days Both Present Start with a standard work year: Working days: ~260 per year (52 weeks × 5 days) Holidays: ~10 days (both absent, so no impact on overlap) Sick days: ~5 days each per year Vacation: ~10-15 days each per year If Person A takes 5 sick days and Person B takes 5 sick days, and these don’t overlap, that’s 10 days where one is absent.https://molsen.ca/writing/return-of-the-assistant/Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/return-of-the-assistant/In the 1950s and 1960s, every executive had a secretary. Typing pools handled document production. Stenographers transcribed dictation. The professional focused on content; the secretary handled execution. Executives delegated formatting, typing, and filing because their time was more valuable elsewhere. Secretaries’ shorthand, typing speed, and knowledge of office systems made execution faster and more reliable than if executives did it themselves. The Liberation of DIY Personal computers gave professionals direct control over office tasks.https://molsen.ca/writing/executable-knowledge-architecture/Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/executable-knowledge-architecture/AI explanations can be unfaithful. Answers to Critics explains the need for independent verification. Anyone can now ask ChatGPT questions they once needed experts to answer. That access puts pressure on the value of expertise and on how professionals use AI. Oracle use means asking AI questions and using its answers. Verifying those answers requires the expertise to produce them yourself. This verification paradox prevents professional accountability in the oracle pattern.https://molsen.ca/writing/tacit-space-shrinkage/Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/tacit-space-shrinkage/Every organization has knowledge that nobody can quite put into words. The machinist who “just knows” when a tolerance is off. The sales director who senses when a deal is going sideways. The nurse who recognizes deterioration before the monitors do. We call this tacit knowledge, and for decades we’ve treated it as a fixed feature of organizational life. Valuable, irreplaceable, and resistant to capture. As AI capabilities expand, less knowledge remains practically inexpressible.https://molsen.ca/writing/consulting-threat-opportunity/Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/consulting-threat-opportunity/Consulting is expert advice for hire. The entire business model rests on asymmetry: the consultant knows things the client does not. This asymmetry justifies premium fees, long engagements, and the elaborate pyramids of associates, managers, and partners that populate every major firm. AI encodes expertise. As that expertise becomes more extensive and accessible, clients can obtain it on demand at marginal cost, without relationship management or procurement. The knowledge advantage that sustains consulting is already declining.https://molsen.ca/writing/parrots-are-all-you-need/Sun, 15 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/parrots-are-all-you-need/Original publication, January 2023. The title predates the widespread use of “is all you need”; I would choose a different title now. CIOs either already consider AI an urgent priority, will soon recognize the need to do so, or will be out of work in two years. The June 2017 paper “Attention Is All You Need” changed how natural language processing models were trained. ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022 and immediately became the fastest-growing platform in Internet history.https://molsen.ca/writing/leadership-lessons-science-fiction/Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/leadership-lessons-science-fiction/I’ve read Stephen Covey, Malcolm Gladwell, David Maister, and much of the standard leadership literature. When a former team member, newly promoted at his new company, asked which books had most influenced how I lead, my answer surprised me: science fiction. These principles guide how I lead: Praise in public, correct in private Accept responsibility for team failure: “the buck stops here” Assign credit for team success to the individuals who made the difference Loyalty from the team is earned by loyalty given to the team Be willing to change my mind: I rarely end up wrong, but I often start out wrong These are some of my foundational principles.https://molsen.ca/writing/remote-work-formula/Thu, 25 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/remote-work-formula/“Hey guys, just so you know, I’ll be +7 hours from Pacific time for the next six weeks or so. I’ll mostly be working in Pacific time but some days I’ll be cutting out early. I’ll make sure you know when that is.” A team member we’d hired six months earlier posted this in our Teams chat. He informed us of his plans without asking permission. I was pleased that he could make the arrangement himself and knew to keep the team informed.https://molsen.ca/writing/support-team-real-job/Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://molsen.ca/writing/support-team-real-job/In 2020, a number of professionals at our firm billed more than 100 hours in a single week. Another large group hit 90 hours at least once. Factor in eating, hygiene, sleep, and overhead time, and 100 billable hours requires about 95% of a week’s 168 hours devoted to work and survival. On top of that, professionals are often expected to mentor others, manage a practice, attend industry events, write papers, and handle many other time-consuming but non-billable activities.