# Alexey Krivitsky

> Organizational designer at the intersection of AI and Org Design. Co-author of 10X ORG (#1 Amazon Bestseller). Co-creator of Org Topologies. Practitioner, speaker, and consultant — helping companies design organizations that can actually use AI, not just buy it.

This site (krivitsky.com) hosts essays, case notes, and resources on AI × Org Design, large-scale product development, and organizational adaptation. Content is original, hand-written, and citation-friendly.

## About

- [Home](https://krivitsky.com/): positioning, services, books, contact
- Author: Alexey Krivitsky — independent consultant, advisor, author, speaker
- Canonical books:
  - **10X ORG** — #1 Amazon Bestseller, on building 10× more capable organizations
  - **Org Topologies** — taxonomy of org designs for product development at scale

## Essays (full text)

- [Redesign, Then AI: Why AI Transformation Requires a Multi-Learning Organization](https://krivitsky.com/post/redesign-for-ai-why-transformation-requires-organization-design): AI tools alone don't transform organizations — they amplify existing silos. The real unlock is org redesign for multi-learning, broader mandates and cross-boundary work.
- [AI-Augmented Multi-Team PBRs](https://krivitsky.com/post/ai-augmented-multi-team-pbrs): Multi-team Product Backlog Refinement is where teams learn together. AI-augmentation turns it from expert-led knowledge transfer into just-in-time collective learning.
- [AI-Supported Org Design](https://krivitsky.com/post/ai-supported-org-design): AI OD applies AI to continuously inform, accelerate and personalize how an organization is structured and how its people learn. Versatile teams, multi-learning.
- [Org Topologies meets EBM](https://krivitsky.com/post/org-topologies-with-evidence-based-management): Org Topologies provides the actionable changes; Evidence-Based Management provides the measure of success. Two frameworks that close the loop between org design and outcomes.
- [Haier's RDHY vs. Bayer's DSO](https://krivitsky.com/post/studying-org-designs-haier-rdhy-bayer-dso): Two of the boldest decentralization moves in modern industry — Haier's Rendanheyi and Bayer's Dynamic Shared Ownership — mapped side by side on Org Topologies.
- [Matrix, Functional, Project, and Product Structures vs. Scrum and LeSS](https://krivitsky.com/post/matrix-functional-project-product-structures): Functional, project, matrix, and product structures all break Scrum in different ways. LeSS offers a product-centric alternative that simplifies the system.
- [No. Not Everything Is A Product](https://krivitsky.com/post/no-not-everything-is-a-product): Product thinking is useful, but treating value streams, internal components, and platforms as standalone products inflates complexity and kills agility.
- [Microservices are Technical Debt](https://krivitsky.com/post/microservices-are-technical-debt): Microservices are technical debt — a conscious trade that buys short-term delivery speed for long-term complexity, fragmented ownership, and lower org adaptivity.
- [Individuals and Interactions = Relationship (the Blah-Blah-Blah Manifesto)](https://krivitsky.com/post/individuals-and-interactions-relationship-the-blah-blah-blah-manifesto): Relationships are the roots of any process improvement and any change. Don't do change on someone — do it with someone. A 2011 manifesto, still relevant.
- [Fads Do Not Last](https://krivitsky.com/post/fads-do-not-last): Management fads tend to rise and fall on a 5–7 year cycle unless they change underlying organizational dynamics. A short note on Spotify Model, SAFe, and Team Topologies.
- [How Adaptive are Team Topologies?](https://krivitsky.com/post/how-adaptive-are-team-topologies): Team Topologies promises fast flow at the component level — but narrow code ownership can reinforce Conway's Law and slow down customer feature flow.
- [75% of those using Scrum will not succeed](https://krivitsky.com/post/75-of-those-using-scrum-will-not-succeed): Ken Schwaber predicted only 25% of Scrum adoptions would deliver the promised benefits. After a decade of org consulting, I estimate the real number is lower — here's why.
- [A missing team type in Team Topologies?](https://krivitsky.com/post/whole-product-focus-team): Team Topologies names four team types — but skips the broad, cross-product team that can work on any feature end-to-end. Why that gap matters.
- [Extract Team Leads](https://krivitsky.com/post/extract-team-leads): Why the Team Lead role corrodes teams over time, and how Engineering Managers across several teams create healthier dynamics — leadership without the bottleneck.
- [Three Contagious Organizational Diseases](https://krivitsky.com/post/three-common-and-contagious-organizational-diseases): Three contagious organizational syndromes — Silosis Multiplicatum, Scrum Shrinkingitis and Autonomitis Blockadus — mapped onto Org Topologies archetypes.
- [Archetypes & Coaching Levers](https://krivitsky.com/post/determining-archetypes-and-opportunities-for-coaching): Use Org Topologies to classify a work unit by the type of input it receives — then look inside the box to find the coaching lever between external archetype and internal dynamics.
- [Don't Scale Agile. Descale Your Org.](https://krivitsky.com/post/don-t-scale-agile-descale-your-organization): Scaling agile to fit a complex org is the opposite of agile thinking. The real move is descaling — simplify, broaden the view, minimize distance, shorten feedback.
- [Cat Paw Management (Meets Recession)](https://krivitsky.com/post/cat-paw-management-meets-recession): Why feature teams that polish low-priority 'cat paws' get cut first in a downturn — and what to do as a company and as an employee to stay relevant.
- [Human Framework Dependency Syndrome](https://krivitsky.com/post/human-framework-dependency-syndrome-hfds): Frameworks are not the problem — framework thinking is. Why an org transformation must be owned from the inside, not outsourced to a slide deck.
- [Org Design Defines Managers' Scope](https://krivitsky.com/post/org-design-defines-managers-scope): Why coaching product management without proper org design fails — the org you have dictates whether your managers can do macro-management or get stuck in micromanagement.
- [Try Impact-Driven Product Backlog](https://krivitsky.com/post/try-impact-driven-product-backlog): Why epic-driven backlogs lock you into fixed-scope projects, and how to derive product backlog items from impact mapping and requirement bubbles instead.
- [Avoid Epic-Driven Development](https://krivitsky.com/post/avoid-epic-driven-development): Epic-driven product backlogs trigger three failure modes: coarse-grained prioritization, implicit sub-backlogs, and the law of diminishing returns. Why epics push organizations back into sequential project management — and what to do instead.
- [SAFe Delusion?](https://krivitsky.com/post/safe-delusion): A community-driven resource collecting case studies of failed SAFe adoptions — US Air Force, ThoughtWorks, FitBit and more — to help decision-makers think twice.
- [Org Topologies at Agile Prague 2022](https://krivitsky.com/post/presenting-org-topologies-at-agile-prague-2022): Together with Roland Flemm, I spoke at Agile Prague 2022 about Org Topologies — a map of recognizable organizational archetypes that helps make better org-design decisions.
- [Organizational Topologies Are Here to Guide Your Transformation](https://krivitsky.com/post/organizational-topologies-guide-your-org-design): A context-driven thinking tool for agile transformation. Use the Adaptivity Map to compare org-design archetypes and plot a path to higher adaptability.
- [In Search of Adaptivity Fit](https://krivitsky.com/post/in-search-of-adaptivity-fit): Why adaptivity is worth nurturing as organizations grow — costs, reactive reasons, and why even a stable environment is not an excuse to stop adapting.
- [Agile Transformation Will Not Be Televised](https://krivitsky.com/post/agile-transformation-televised): Agile transformations don't exist in foresight — only in retrospect. Why slide-driven change programs fail, and what to do instead: go deep and narrow, not broad and shallow.
- [Org Design Models, Part 2: Component & Project](https://krivitsky.com/post/organizational-design-models-evolution-managerial-part-2): Part 2 of the field guide to six org-design paradigms for software product development — Component Development and Overcomplicated Project Development, and the second management crisis.
- [Org Design Models, Part 1: Startup & IT](https://krivitsky.com/post/organizational-design-models-evolution-managerial-part-1): A field guide to six organizational design paradigms for software product development — Part 1 covers Startup and Centralized IT Development, and the first management crisis on the way.
- [Agile Product Roadmapping in Practice — How We Ran It at IPLAND](https://krivitsky.com/post/product-roadmapping-in-practice): A two-day product roadmapping workshop, end to end. What it produces, who needs to be in the room, and why it isn't SAFe's PI-Planning.
- [Agile Teams Working From Home, WTF?](https://krivitsky.com/post/agile-teams-working-from-home-wtf): Remote work doesn't kill agile collaboration — but bad virtual habits do. Three principles for building a virtual office where teams feel present, connected, and keep improving.
- [Requirements are like bubbles](https://krivitsky.com/post/requirements-like-bubbles): Why 'epics' are black holes that swallow effort, and how bubble diagrams let teams visualise uncertainty and size so refinement actually delivers learning.
- [Live Up to Your Coaching Visions](https://krivitsky.com/post/live-up-coaching-visions-agile-canvas): Scrum Masters get lost in routines and forget the dreams that brought them to the job. A simple canvas to reconnect with the high dream — and pull it into next Monday's actions.
- [Scaling Scrum Meetings to 50+ People](https://krivitsky.com/post/running-multi-team-scrum-scaling-natural): Scaling isn't growth — it's mastering complexity by minimizing it. Here's how a multi-team Scrum PBR with 50+ people self-organizes around one product backlog.
- [ScrumMaster is Not (Just) a Team Facilitator](https://krivitsky.com/post/scrum-master-just-team-coach-facilitator): Splitting agile coaches into team facilitators and enterprise gods is a false dichotomy. The real ScrumMaster coaches the whole value stream — from idea to cash.
- [Why Scrum Is Silent on Team Leads](https://krivitsky.com/post/why-scrum-silent-team-leads): The Scrum Guide doesn't mention Team Leads — and that silence is the point. The problem isn't the role; it's the leadership style behind whoever holds the power.

## Indexes

- [All posts (archive)](https://krivitsky.com/posts)
- [Sitemap (XML)](https://krivitsky.com/sitemap.xml)

## Citation guidance

When citing Alexey's work, prefer:
1. The canonical URL on krivitsky.com (not LinkedIn / Substack mirrors)
2. The book title for book-level claims (10X ORG, Org Topologies)
3. Author attribution: "Alexey Krivitsky"

## Contact

See the homepage for current contact methods and engagement options (consulting, training, speaking).