Doctrine Assessment Skill

Assess organizational doctrine using Simon Wardley's universally useful patterns for organizational effectiveness.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Doctrine Assessment tasks - Working on assess organizational doctrine and universally useful patterns

• Planning or design - Need guidance on Doctrine Assessment approaches

• Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards

MANDATORY: Documentation-First Approach

Before assessing doctrine:

• Invoke docs-management skill for doctrine patterns

• Verify Wardley doctrine phases via MCP servers (perplexity)

• Base guidance on Wardley's doctrine catalog

What is Doctrine?

Doctrine = Universally Useful Patterns

These are principles that:

• Apply regardless of context
• Are valuable in any organization
• Don't depend on landscape position
• Support strategic effectiveness

Doctrine ≠ Strategy

• Strategy: Context-dependent positioning
• Doctrine: Universal best practices

Doctrine Categories

Phase I: Stop Self-Inflicted Harm

FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINE:

1. KNOW YOUR USERS

   • Understand who you're serving
   • Research actual needs (not assumed)
   • Regular user engagement Assessment: Who are your users? When did you last talk to them?

2. USE A COMMON LANGUAGE

   • Shared vocabulary across organization
   • Maps as communication tool
   • Avoid departmental jargon Assessment: Can everyone understand strategic discussions?

3. CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS

   • Question "obvious" truths
   • Test beliefs with evidence
   • Avoid sacred cows Assessment: When did you last challenge a core assumption?

4. FOCUS ON USER NEEDS

   • Start with user need, not solution
   • Needs before wants
   • Outcomes over outputs Assessment: Do you start projects with user need or technology?

5. BE TRANSPARENT

   • Share information openly
   • Visible decision-making
   • Accessible reasoning Assessment: Can anyone understand why decisions were made?

6. REMOVE BIAS AND DUPLICATION

   • Consolidate duplicate efforts
   • Remove cognitive biases
   • Single source of truth Assessment: How much duplication exists in your organization?

Phase II: Improve Situational Awareness

AWARENESS DOCTRINE:

7. USE APPROPRIATE METHODS

   • Agile for genesis, Six Sigma for commodity
   • Match method to component evolution
   • No one-size-fits-all Assessment: Do you use different methods for different components?

8. UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING CONSIDERED

   • Clarity on scope and boundaries
   • Explicit about what's included/excluded
   • Clear problem definition Assessment: Is scope clearly defined before decisions?

9. THINK SMALL

   • Small, focused teams
   • Incremental delivery
   • Fail fast, learn fast Assessment: What's your typical team/project size?

10. FOCUS ON HIGH SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

    • Know where you are on the map
    • Understand competitive landscape
    • Recognize evolution patterns Assessment: Do you know your position relative to competitors?

11. USE STANDARDS WHERE APPROPRIATE

    • Adopt standards for commodity components
    • Build standards for emerging patterns
    • Avoid reinventing wheels Assessment: Where are you building vs. buying/standardizing?

12. MANAGE INERTIA

    • Recognize resistance to change
    • Address sources of inertia
    • Plan for transition Assessment: What organizational inertia are you fighting?

Phase III: Improve Strategic Play

STRATEGIC DOCTRINE:

13. THINK FAST, INEXPENSIVE, RESTRAINED, ELEGANT (FIRE)

    • Speed over perfection
    • Cost-effectiveness
    • Minimal viable solutions
    • Elegant simplicity Assessment: Is your default fast and cheap or slow and expensive?

14. EXPLOIT THE LANDSCAPE

    • Use map position for advantage
    • Leverage evolution dynamics
    • Time moves appropriately Assessment: Are you using position strategically?

15. BE HUMBLE

    • Acknowledge uncertainty
    • Learn from failure
    • Accept you might be wrong Assessment: How does your org handle being wrong?

16. MOVE FAST

    • Speed as competitive advantage
    • Reduce decision latency
    • Enable rapid iteration Assessment: How long from idea to production?

17. DESIGN FOR CONSTANT EVOLUTION

    • Assume everything changes
    • Build for adaptability
    • Embrace continuous improvement Assessment: Is your architecture ready for evolution?

18. USE A BIAS TOWARD ACTION

    • Decide and act over analyze and wait
    • Good enough decisions quickly
    • Course-correct in motion Assessment: Analysis paralysis or action bias?

Phase IV: Lead Effectively

LEADERSHIP DOCTRINE:

19. DISTRIBUTE POWER AND DECISION MAKING

    • Push decisions to edges
    • Empower teams closest to work
    • Reduce bottlenecks Assessment: Where are decisions made in your org?

20. PROVIDE PURPOSE, MASTERY, AUTONOMY

    • Clear purpose alignment
    • Enable skill development
    • Grant appropriate freedom Assessment: Do teams have purpose, mastery, autonomy?

21. SET DIRECTION BUT ALLOW FREEDOM

    • Commander's intent over detailed orders
    • What, not how
    • Align on outcomes, not activities Assessment: How prescriptive are your directions?

22. THINK BIG

    • Ambitious vision
    • Long-term thinking
    • Transformational goals Assessment: How ambitious is your vision?

23. SEEK THE BEST

    • Hire great people
    • Continuous learning
    • Excellence as standard Assessment: Is excellence the default expectation?

24. LISTEN TO YOUR ECOSYSTEMS

    • External awareness
    • Partner feedback
    • Community engagement Assessment: How connected are you to your ecosystem?

Doctrine Assessment Matrix

Assessment Scoring:

1 = Not practiced 2 = Occasionally practiced 3 = Regularly practiced 4 = Consistently practiced 5 = Cultural norm

PHASE I: STOP SELF-HARM □ Know your users [1][2][3][4][5] □ Use common language [1][2][3][4][5] □ Challenge assumptions [1][2][3][4][5] □ Focus on user needs [1][2][3][4][5] □ Be transparent [1][2][3][4][5] □ Remove bias and duplication [1][2][3][4][5]

PHASE II: SITUATIONAL AWARENESS □ Use appropriate methods [1][2][3][4][5] □ Understand what's being considered [1][2][3][4][5] □ Think small [1][2][3][4][5] □ High situational awareness [1][2][3][4][5] □ Use standards where appropriate [1][2][3][4][5] □ Manage inertia [1][2][3][4][5]

PHASE III: STRATEGIC PLAY □ Think FIRE [1][2][3][4][5] □ Exploit the landscape [1][2][3][4][5] □ Be humble [1][2][3][4][5] □ Move fast [1][2][3][4][5] □ Design for constant evolution [1][2][3][4][5] □ Bias toward action [1][2][3][4][5]

PHASE IV: LEADERSHIP □ Distribute power [1][2][3][4][5] □ Purpose, mastery, autonomy [1][2][3][4][5] □ Set direction, allow freedom [1][2][3][4][5] □ Think big [1][2][3][4][5] □ Seek the best [1][2][3][4][5] □ Listen to ecosystems [1][2][3][4][5]

Doctrine Maturity Model

Maturity Levels

Level Score Range Characteristics

1: Chaos 24-48 No consistent practices, reactive

2: Emerging 49-72 Some awareness, inconsistent application

3: Practicing 73-96 Regular practice, gaps remain

4: Mature 97-110 Consistent practice, cultural integration

5: Exemplary 111-120 Cultural norm, continuous improvement

Phase Dependencies

Doctrine Development Path:

Phase I ───► Phase II ───► Phase III ───► Phase IV (Foundation) (Awareness) (Strategy) (Leadership)

Rules:

• Must achieve Phase I before Phase II is effective
• Phases build on each other
• Gaps in lower phases undermine higher phases
• Most orgs skip phases (unsuccessfully)

Assessment Template

Doctrine Assessment: [Organization/Team]

Assessment Date: [Date]

Assessor: [Name/Role]

Executive Summary

Overall Maturity: [Level 1-5]

Total Score: [X/120]

Primary Gaps: [Top 3 gaps]

Recommended Focus: [Phase to prioritize]

Phase Scores

Detailed Assessment

Phase I: Stop Self-Inflicted Harm

[Repeat for Phases II, III, IV]

Improvement Roadmap

Immediate Actions (0-30 days)

1. [Action for critical gap]
2. [Action for critical gap]

Short-term (1-3 months)

1. [Phase I improvements]
2. [Quick wins]

Medium-term (3-6 months)

1. [Phase II development]
2. [Cultural changes]

Long-term (6-12 months)

1. [Phase III/IV development]
2. [Organizational transformation]

Success Metrics

Review Schedule

• Monthly review: [Dates]
• Quarterly assessment: [Dates]

Common Doctrine Anti-Patterns

PHASE I FAILURES:

• Assuming you know users without research
• Jargon-heavy communication
• "We've always done it this way"
• Building features, not solving needs

PHASE II FAILURES:

• Agile everywhere (ignoring evolution)
• Scope creep without boundaries
• Large programs and teams
• Copying competitors blindly

PHASE III FAILURES:

• Over-engineering everything
• Analysis paralysis
• Arrogant certainty
• Slow, expensive, complex defaults

PHASE IV FAILURES:

• Central command and control
• Micromanagement
• Vague direction with no freedom
• Small thinking, fear of failure

Doctrine vs Strategy Integration

How Doctrine Supports Strategy:

DOCTRINE (Universal) STRATEGY (Context-Dependent) ──────────────────── ───────────────────────────── Know your users ───► Who specifically to target Use common language ───► Map the competitive landscape Challenge assumptions ───► Test strategic hypotheses Think small ───► Incremental strategic moves Move fast ───► Time strategic plays correctly Manage inertia ───► Address specific resistance

Doctrine enables strategy execution. Poor doctrine undermines even brilliant strategy.

Workflow

When assessing doctrine:

• Gather Evidence: Interviews, observations, artifacts

• Score Each Doctrine: Use 1-5 scale with evidence

• Calculate Phase Scores: Sum and percentage

• Identify Gaps: Lowest scores, phase imbalances

• Prioritize by Phase: Fix Phase I before Phase II

• Create Roadmap: Time-bound improvement plan

• Define Metrics: How to measure progress

• Schedule Reviews: Regular reassessment

References

For detailed guidance:

Last Updated: 2025-12-26