Tremendous energy is available when you orient the work of a group in such a way that every task is maximally impactful in advancing towards a common goal. Important work is prioritized, and progress is accelerated towards the destination. People are energized, motivated, and happy. It's fun. This state of flow is the Jetstream, and it's where we all aspire to be when working in groups. ## The Primary Objective Groups come together to accomplish a goal that is too large for any one individual to achieve alone. We call this common goal the group’s primary objective. In order to be effective, the primary objective needs to be specific enough to provide clear direction, ambitious enough to inspire and challenge the group, and time-bound in order to establish an expectation of pace. In an organization using OKRs, the primary objective would be the company level OKR. While the exact form of the primary objective may vary depending on the organization's goal-setting methodology, the key principles remain constant. By definition, the primary objective is too large for any one individual, and it therefore needs to be broken down into discrete units of work, or tasks that can be taken on by individuals. ![[Primary objective with tasks.jpg|400]] ## Task Constellations In order complete a task, individuals need 4 things: ![[Task constellation simple.jpg|400]] 1. **Task** - a clearly defined unit of work that aligns with the primary objective. 2. **Time** - the ability to manage their time such that they're able to perform the work required to complete the Task. 3. **Resources** - external resources that may be required to complete the work. This can be anything needed to get the job done -- money, computers, other people, robots, manufacturing capacity etc. 4. **Role** - a clearly defined role that articulates what the individual is responsible for delivering. The process by which the group grants an individual ownership over their time, task, resources, and role is called [[Authorization|authorization]]. When an individual is fully authorized, they have a clear sense of their place within the group and the legitimacy of their contribution. They feel empowered to make decisions, take action, and own their work without constantly seeking permission or validation from others. ![[Flow of Authorization.jpg|400]] It's important to note that while in traditional organizations authorization often flows from the top down, it can actually flow from four different directions – from above, below, laterally from peers, or from within individuals themselves. Surrounding each of the task components is a [[Boundaries|boundary]]. Boundaries are crucial for effective group functioning on multiple levels. At a practical level, clear boundaries prevent individuals from stepping on each other's toes by delineating who is responsible for what, what Resources are allocated to each task, and how time and effort should be spent. ![[Task structure + boundaries.jpg|400]] But boundaries also serve deeper psychological and interpersonal functions. Well-defined boundaries contribute to a sense of psychological safety, allowing individuals to take risks, share ideas, and engage in productive conflict without fear of overstepping or being undermined. Boundaries and authorization are also deeply intertwined. Clear, well-defined boundaries provide the framework for authorization. When an individual understands the boundaries around what they are responsible for, what resources they have, and how their work fits into the bigger picture, they are more likely to feel fully authorized to own their tasks and make decisions within their domain. Pulling it all together, we can represent time, task, resources, and role as a discrete structure with corresponding boundaries and a flow of authorization. ![[Task constellation complete.jpg|400]] This structure is a complete representation of an individual's contribution to the group's primary objective at any moment, and as such, it is actually useful to look at groups as constellations of time, task, resources, and roles rather than as collections of individuals. We’ll revisit this idea that individuals are less solid than they seem later on. ## The Flight Plan When you put all the group's task structures together, you get a simple hierarchical representation of work being done in service of the primary objective. ![[Flight plan simple.jpg|400]] We're going to call this the group's flight plan. A high-functioning flight plan is characterized by clarity, alignment, and prioritization among tasks in relation to the primary objective. Depending on the size and structure of the group, the primary objective may need to be broken down into sub-objectives owned by smaller groups or teams before it can be broken down into tasks for individuals. In a large or complex organization the Flight Plan takes on a fractal structure, but the fundamental principles are the same. ![[Primary objective with sub-objectives.jpg|400]] ## Energy source of the Jetstream We now have the beginnings of a map of The Jetstream, but we're not quite done. While the primary objective is the common goal that the group is working towards over a specific time period, it operates within the context of higher level goals and principles. The group's mission, vision, and values can be thought of as the energy source that sustains the group as the primary objective changes over time. ![[Flight Plan.jpg|400]] I define mission, vision, and values as follows: - **Mission** - the group's long term goal. A great mission is ambitious enough that it will take many years to accomplish, while being believable enough to be an inspiring call to action. - **Vision** - a shared understanding of how the world will look if the group accomplishes the Mission. - **Values** - a set of implicit or explicit principles that define how the group will behave while working together. At the highest level, the energy of the group comes from the individuals within it. This means that in order to access the energy available within the group, the flight plan must also align with the larger context of who the individuals are and where they're going in life. Each individual has constellation of things that make them uniquely who they are. We'll call this the individual's passions and inspirations. This tends to be a series of 3-5 things that come together to create a moment of "Ah, this is it. This is why I'm here on this planet." My passions and inspirations are: working on hard problems, having meaningful relationships with a group of people, doing something creative, and being in nature. It's rare for all four of my passions and inspirations to come together in a single moment, but when they do that's pure magic for me. Hence my deep appreciation for Burning Man, and why having company retreats at a summer camp in the redwoods was a peak experience for me. Three out of four of my passions and inspirations coming together in one moment is more common, and still creates a deep resonance of meaningful experience. In these moments I not only experience tremendous existential juice, but crucially also tap into a deep and profound internal source of energy. So in in order for an individual to access their deepest and most profound source energy when working in a group, the tasks they own need to be connected to their passions and inspirations by a clear flight plan. ![[Flight plan full.jpg|400]] This is not always straightforward, so drawing these lines is a key function of managers. For instance a junior engineer may have passions and inspirations that include solving complex problems and creating something new. However, as a junior engineer their job may look a lot more like re-writing other peoples shitty code than solving novel and interesting problems. As a manger, you may need to explain that if they spend a few months fixing bugs and learning the codebase, they'll graduate to writing small enhancements, then whole features, and in several years they'll be ready to architect new systems. In this way, their current tasks can be connected to their passions and inspirations even if they don't directly fulfill them today. When your flight plan enables you to draw a straight line from the tasks that individuals are working on every day to the primary objective of the group to the vision and mission and values of the organization, all while tapping into the energetic source of each individual's passions and inspirations, you have a recipe for happy, motivated individuals and rapid progress towards a common goal. This is The Jetstream–that optimal state of flow in which the group is fully aligned and moving forward with clarity, purpose, and tremendous momentum. It's a state of high performance, high engagement, and high fulfillment. But as desirable as The Jetstream is, we know it's not that common, especially in large groups. In the next section, we'll explore the forces that pull groups out of alignment and towards entropy and inefficiency. ## Next Up [[Fantasyland]]