Describing Domains for Clarity

Create abundant shared meaning and enable autonomy, by establishing strong clarity.

What is a Domain?

Simply put, it’s a group or role, formed for a specific purpose. Creating a clear expression of that purpose, and certain operational aspects of its plan or approach, can be a big help.

A great domain definition lets contributors know what to expect and how they can respond to whatever situations arise.

Clarity is Crucial

For any domain, having very clear expressions of purpose, intended outcomes, and big-picture vision creates a picture and includes a frame for contributors to hold in mind as they work to fulfill their shared meaning.

Sidebar: Domains, delegators, and nested domains

We refer to a domain created autonomously as a self-sourced domain. We feel driven to deeply support people having such ambitious visions, where clarity of intention is so critical for impactful achievement.

A nested domain is created when people working for a shared purpose (in a delegating domain) feel a need to establish a new zone of independent / autonomous action. A delegation agreement is used to form up a description of the new domain they create. Typically, they should easily find consent for the shared purpose driving that new domain.

How to Describe a Domain?

Develop Tensions into Drivers

This activity starts with the essential problem that drives you to make a change. Our tension/driver development worksheets will help you transform that first expression of difficulty into a concise expression of purpose that can cover a wide variety of intended activities, along with all kinds of work you didn’t know how to expect.

Raise Constraints, Dependencies, and Resources

Typically, a delegating group establishes resources, guidelines, and constraints, consensually with a nested domain, in order to more clearly define the zone of autonomy.

Constraints establish preset boundaries, to enable freedom to act independently and responsibly. Constraints can include ethical values, practical limits sourced from real-world conditions, or they can follow concerns raised in scope of a delegation agreement. Recognized risks can provide a source of desirable constraints.

Dependencies are a special type of enabler, because they represent both a resource and a constraint. As a resource, they make intended collaborations explicit: “…group X is supporting you with skill S”. As a constraint, they help a domain’s contributors avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and costs of closing skill gaps.

Use dependencies to proactively guard against siloing and reveal available Resources

Resources are provided and/or requested as part of any evolving delegation agreement, to help satisfy any needs required for the success of a domain’s purpose. Money, tooling, and collaborating teams are some prime examples.

Resourcing in Self-Sourced Domains

Not all of these factors of interdependence are available in a self-sourced domain. Because of this, the need for clarity in expressing drivers is magnified. Intended outcomes and requirements are particularly relevant.

Any domain can additionally recognize resources they have intrinsically, and you might be surprised how valuable these can be when they’re brought into focus.

Recognize Success Factors

Responsibilities, Deliverables and needed Skills are a few important types of success factors. By describing expectations of these kinds, people working in, needing help from, or collaborating with your group or role can be really clear about what to expect and what is expected.

Contributors with clearly defined success factors can make meaningful progress on their shared purpose.

Validation: Consent and Refinement

To complete group or domain formation, seek consent, not by asking permission. Instead, seek out any important feedback needed for you to know your domain description expresses what you intend, and that it makes sense to anyone who you need involved.

The consent process gives you early opportunity to make any important improvements right away. Socialize the domain description to see where it was missing crucial clarity.

Where to draw the line of good enough?

A Less-than-Minimum Viable domain description may be needed if you want more rigorous validation, such as with customers and prospects. In such cases, it’s fine to allow a “good-enough” description of purpose to proceed.

When the plan looks like it may be safe enough to inspire your next responsible activity on-mission, that’s how you know you got consent. No need to wait - let’s go!

Keys to Achievement

Any group or role that’s working in the world will need to deal with whatever arises. In successful organizations, people habitually focus on value, act responsively to conditions, and recognize difficulties as tensions.

When needed, they develop those tensions into drivers describing what’s important, to enhance clarity and create shared meaning. They try things, they see what happens, and they learn from it.

Then they wake up on a new day, and keep doing it all again. ☀️ GM!