Updated 28 October 2026
A new strategy, a new structure, another set of priorities. Sometimes a substantial reset is necessary. But when the same delivery problems return after each reorganisation, it is worth examining what the resets have left untouched.
In a growing multi-product business, the recurring problem may sit between teams. Two roadmaps depend on the same specialists. A customer journey crosses several product boundaries. A shared capability has many users but no clear owner. Moving reporting lines can leave all of those dependencies in place.
Follow the work that keeps getting stuck
The starting point is a recognisable consequence: a delayed onboarding journey, repeated support contacts, a commitment that cannot be delivered, or work that is rebuilt in several places. Follow it across the business before deciding whether the answer is a new team, platform or programme.
Look for the decisions people are waiting for, the handoffs they have to negotiate and the evidence that changes priorities. Ask which constraints recur across products. A local delay may be the visible part of a shared capacity or ownership problem.
Make the next change smaller and more deliberate
A focused change can still require senior decisions. If several teams rely on the same capability, somebody must agree its purpose, funding, service expectations and priorities. If a customer journey spans products, somebody needs authority to resolve the trade-offs across that journey.
Those choices should be explicit before another delivery commitment is added. The work may call for clearer coordination rather than centralisation. Some differences between products are useful and should remain.
Ownership: who can decide, and who is responsible for the result?
Capacity: what can the business deliver alongside its existing commitments?
Dependencies: what must change first for the intended benefit to be possible?
Evidence: how will we know whether the change is helping?
Build learning into normal operations
A business that can evolve needs a way to notice when its assumptions no longer hold. Customer feedback, service demand and delivery evidence should inform decisions about what to continue, change or stop.
Workshops and offsites can help people examine this evidence together. Their value depends on the decisions they enable and the follow-through afterwards. A shared vision is useful when teams can connect it to ownership, priorities and the practical work ahead.
The city analogy in The Return of the Roaring 20s is helpful here. A city evolves through connected changes to its infrastructure and services. Improving one part requires attention to the others that depend on it. The same discipline applies to a portfolio of products.
A practical starting point
Choose one concern that crosses product boundaries. Agree the decision it raises, examine the evidence and identify a manageable next change. Make the trade-offs visible, including what to defer so the business can absorb the transition.
The Stravus 8S framework provides a structured lens for that investigation. It helps connect customer experience, operations, technology and people without treating every problem as a reason for another enterprise-wide reset.
See how a focused assessment works.
This article develops the Stravus perspective on a question raised by Darrell Rigby and Zach First in Get Off the Transformation Treadmill, Harvard Business Review, January–February 2026.