Making Sense of Business Frameworks

Frameworks are great ways to make sense of business complexity.  At the very least, they frame a business issue, identify the component parts of that issue and depict the relationship between these component parts. Let’s take these one at a time:

1. Frameworks frame a business issue. The first step in creating a framework is to name it. As soon as you say to someone, ‘I’d like to talk to you about the strategy framework’ or the ‘measurement framework’ or the ‘people and culture framework’ you immediately frame their expectations. Their frame may not be the same as your frame but they will frame it nonetheless. Which is why it is a great idea to give every framework a title and a subtitle. The title frames it, the sub-title explains it. So, for example,  ‘Our strategy framework: a graphical representation of how we intend to develop our new strategy over the next 6 months’.
2. Component parts. Having framed the business issue, the next step is to label its component parts.  The key issue here is labelling. How brief should the label be?  Should they, perhaps, be long descriptive labels?  Do we go for brevity or clarity?  If we use cryptic labels they may not be immediately meaningful, but they might be memorable. The answer to all these questions is usability.  Who is your audience for this framework?  What labels can you use to give maximum usability for your intended audience?  Be as brief as possible, so long as you are still clear.  Don’t try to be cryptic or clever – labels are not the place to do this. 
3. Relationship between component parts.  This is the big one!  This is where the true value of a framework is revealed. How do the parts go together? Do they cluster and if so, why?   Do they look the same, work the same or are made of the same stuff?  Do they have a common causes or maybe a common effect?  Are they a linear process, where one component follows another in a time series. Are they stacked or nested in a systems hierarchy?  Are they in dynamic tension – clusters of component parts pulling in opposite directions. Or maybe all pulling in the same direction?  Again clarity is key. If you cluster together a bunch of component parts – maybe graphically, they are boxed together – you need to say why.  You need to label the box.  Causal relations can be depicted by an arrow. Reciprocal relations by a bidirectional arrow.