PODS
PODS ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN SYSTEM
PODS AND LeSS
Both frameworks embrace systems thinking as a guiding principle, focusing on holistic design to eliminate inefficiencies and foster agility. However, they differ in the level of prescription and the contexts in which they operate.
Purpose and Focus
Overview
LeSS is a highly refined framework specifically designed for high-tech product development, making it a natural choice for organizations focusing on iterative product delivery. In contrast, PODS takes a broader approach and can be applied to a wide range of domains, including service delivery, operational excellence, and strategic initiatives.
Interestingly, a LeSS adoption can be seen as an implementation example of PODS, with Feature Teams as the foundational building blocks. LeSS concepts such as Product Groups and Requirement Areas naturally align with the PODS philosophy of autonomous, customer-centric units, highlighting the strong synergy between the two frameworks.
Core Purpose
Both LeSS and PODS are designed to create agile, customer-focused organizations. They share a fundamental commitment to emphasizing outcomes over outputs, ensuring alignment with customer value and organizational goals. However, they differ significantly in their scope and implementation approach.
LeSS Approach
LeSS focuses specifically on scaling Scrum while preserving its simplicity and iterative value delivery. It provides a structured framework for organizations engaged in product development, enabling multiple teams to collaborate effectively on a single product. Through Product Groups, LeSS emphasizes autonomous value delivery, building on stable Feature Teams to maintain agility and alignment across the organization.
PODS Approach
PODS takes a more flexible approach as an organizational design framework, emphasizing scalability, adaptability, and holistic outcomes. Its primary purpose is to create autonomous, self-sufficient units (Pods) capable of addressing complex challenges and delivering long-term organizational value. This flexibility extends to team structure - Pods can choose to adopt stable Feature Teams or employ more dynamic configurations based on their specific needs and context.
Scope and Application
Similarities:
Both LeSS and PODS improve collaboration and organizational effectiveness by structuring teams around value delivery. They encourage continuous learning and adaptation to changing needs.
LeSS:
Narrowly scoped to product-centric environments. It scales Scrum by synchronizing multiple small teams around a shared product backlog and vision. Requirement Areas in LeSS Huge group teams working on specific customer requirements and often use Feature Teams as their foundational building blocks.
PODS:
Extends far beyond product development, serving as a flexible framework for managing diverse organizational functions such as service delivery, operational excellence, and strategic initiatives. While Pods can leverage stable Feature Teams, they also allow for dynamic configurations like dynamic re-teaming or other adaptive team models, ensuring they remain flexible and context-driven.
Structure and Team Composition
Similarities:
Both frameworks emphasize cross-functional collaboration and breaking silos, creating teams capable of delivering value efficiently. Both frameworks view team composition as a critical factor in achieving organizational agility and adaptability.
LeSS:
LeSS strongly advocates for all teams to be Feature Teams-cross-functional and customer-centric units capable of working on any high-value item from the product backlog. This ambitious goal ensures that teams are flexible and can adapt to shifting priorities without becoming bottlenecks. In a LeSS adoption, all teams are expected to evolve into Feature Teams over time, making this approach well-suited for organizations seeking to maximize team agility and value delivery.
PODS:
While PODS also supports the idea of cross-functional, customer-facing teams, it does not mandate that all teams immediately meet the high standards of Feature Teams as an entry point for adoption. Within a Pod, teams can start with varying levels of specialization or different immediate skill sets and grow toward greater versatility over time. Additionally, PODS accommodates large-scale contexts by allowing shared commodity platforms or services to exist outside of Pods, reducing duplication and centralizing support for common needs. This flexibility makes PODS a more accessible framework for organizations at various stages of agility and team development.
By setting different expectations for team composition, LeSS and PODS cater to different organizational starting points while maintaining the ultimate goal of fostering collaboration, adaptability, and customer-focused outcomes.
Leadership and Governance
Similarities:
Both LeSS and PODS emphasize empowering teams through leadership that aligns with organizational goals without micromanaging. Leaders in both frameworks create environments where teams can thrive and focus on delivering value.
LeSS:
Leadership in LeSS adheres closely to Scrum principles, with key roles such as the Product Owner, who ensures prioritization and vision, and the Scrum Master, who facilitates processes and resolves impediments. A LeSS Product Owner can serve as an implementation example of a Pod Strategic Manager, guiding the direction and priorities of the team. Governance is maintained through structured collaboration, with regular events like retrospectives and sprint reviews to align teams on shared goals.
PODS:
Leadership in PODS is broader and more flexible. While Pods may adopt a single manager resembling the LeSS Product Owner, PODS does not prescribe this as the only approach. Instead, PODS encourages the concept of a leadership team to guide a Pod (or even multiple Pods). This leadership team can collectively set the Pod's purpose, priorities, and desired outcomes while ensuring alignment with strategic goals. Pod Managers focus on providing Pods with autonomy and resources, staying at the periphery to empower Pod Members to drive execution and continuous improvement. This approach fosters adaptability, allowing Pods to define their preferred style of leadership based on their unique context and challenges.
Dependency Management
LeSS and PODS both focus on minimizing hard dependencies by creating self-sufficient, cross-functional units that contain all the skills needed to deliver value. Dependencies are not seen as obstacles but as opportunities for collaboration and learning.
LeSS:
Reduces dependencies by structuring teams as cross-functional units with all the skills needed to deliver value independently. Learning and collaboration are encouraged through shared backlogs, synchronized events, and regular retrospectives. In LeSS Huge, Product Groups and Requirement Areas function as scalable units, promoting collaboration while reducing external reliance.
PODS:
Designs Pods as autonomous containers where all required skills and resources are present. Pods naturally become spaces for collaboration, allowing members to address dependencies directly within the Pod. Tools like shared product boards, OKRs, and dynamic team setups further support alignment and adaptability.
Adaptability and Flexibility
Similarities:
Both LeSS and PODS are designed to adapt to evolving business environments. They encourage organizations and teams to continuously improve their ways of working to remain aligned with customer and business needs.
LeSS:
Operates within the boundaries of Scrum, focusing on incremental improvements in product-centric delivery. While it supports iterative learning, its adaptability is limited to the product development context.
PODS:
Stands out for its flexibility, allowing Pods to dynamically reconfigure themselves, integrate various methodologies, and scale according to organizational needs. Pods address a broad range of challenges, extending beyond product development, and can experiment with multiple team-building strategies to fit their purpose.
Key Differences Between LeSS and PODS
Scope:
LeSS: Narrowly focused on scaling Scrum for product development, making it ideal for organizations that prioritize iterative product delivery. Product Groups or Requirement Areas in LeSS Huge reflect scalable units akin to Pods, often structured around stable Feature Teams.
PODS: A broad organizational redesign framework that extends beyond product development, suitable for managing diverse functions like service delivery, operational excellence, and strategic initiatives. Pods may adopt Feature Teams or use more dynamic team configurations like dynamic re-teaming or Open Space.
Structure:
LeSS: Employs small, synchronized Scrum teams that work collaboratively around a shared product backlog. Requirement Areas in LeSS Huge group these teams into modular units resembling Pods.
PODS: Comprises large, autonomous Pods that can house multiple teams working toward long-term, end-to-end outcomes, leveraging dynamic team structures.
Leadership:
LeSS: Relies on Scrum-specific roles like Product Owner (for prioritization and vision) and Scrum Master (to facilitate processes and remove impediments). A Product Owner is analogous to a Pod Strategic Manager.
PODS: Encourages a leadership team to guide Pods, offering flexibility and collective decision-making beyond the single-manager approach.
Flexibility:
LeSS: Operates within the constraints of Scrum principles, providing iterative improvements focused on product-centric delivery.
PODS: Highly adaptable, allowing Pods to dynamically reconfigure, integrate multiple methodologies, and evolve with changing organizational needs.
Focus:
LeSS: Centers on incremental product delivery and managing complexity in product development.
PODS: Aims for long-term, end-to-end outcomes by fostering adaptability and minimizing cross-unit dependencies.
Conclusion
Both LeSS and PODS are grounded in systems thinking, prioritizing customer value, organizational adaptability, and the elimination of inefficiencies. LeSS excels in scaling Scrum for high-tech product development, providing detailed and proven guidance for organizations in this domain. Its concepts of Product Groups, Requirement Areas, and Feature Teams align closely with PODS' modular and customer-centric approach.
PODS takes inspiration from LeSS but expands its scope beyond product development, offering a flexible framework for diverse industries and organizational needs. A LeSS adoption can be seen as a strong implementation of PODS principles, with Feature Teams serving as the foundational building blocks. However, PODS goes further by allowing for dynamic configurations and broader applications, making it a versatile option for organizations seeking scalability across different contexts.
The synergy between LeSS and PODS makes them complementary frameworks. Organizations can choose or blend these approaches based on their unique challenges and goals, leveraging the best of both to achieve sustainable success.
LeSS, or Large-Scale Scrum, is a framework for scaling agile development to multiple teams. Created by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde, it extends the rules and principles of Scrum while emphasizing its core values.