# Org Design Basics

> Apply organizational design basics — structure, spans, layers, and role clarity — to improve coordination and accountability. Use when restructuring teams, clarifying ownership, or diagnosing org effectiveness problems.

- Skill: `itsual/org-design-basics` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add itsual/org-design-basics`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/itsual/org-design-basics/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: itsual (https://skillmd.com/u/itsual)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/itsual/org-design-basics

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# Org Design Basics

## Overview

Organizational design shapes how work gets coordinated. Structure should follow strategy and work processes — not only politics or historical accident.

## When to Use

- Restructures and team redesigns
- Span of control and layer reviews
- Clarifying accountabilities (RACI-style)
- Post-growth or post-merger organization cleanup

## Core Practices

- Start from strategy and core workflows
- Define decision rights and interfaces between teams
- Right-size spans and layers for the work type
- Minimize duplicate ownership and gaps
- Sequence structural change with people transitions
- Reassess after implementation — design is a hypothesis

## Principles

- Structure cannot fix broken strategy or process alone
- Every matrix has a coordination cost
- Clarity of ownership beats elegant charts
- Change structure sparingly; churn has a cost

## Verification

- [ ] Design choices link to strategy/work needs
- [ ] Accountabilities are explicit at interfaces
- [ ] Implementation includes people transition plans