Swarming Method in Organizational Management

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Questions and Answers

What is the primary objective of swarming in an organization?

To focus on individual and group autonomy

To prioritize work based on customer preference

To establish a rigid process for managing work

To create a single cross-functional and self-organizing team (correct)

What is a characteristic of a traditional three-tier support hierarchy in a service desk?

Multiple levels of support with escalating complexity (correct)

A focus on individual and group autonomy

A dynamic and flexible team structure

A single point of contact for customers

What is a disadvantage of a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?

It creates multiple queues and accumulated work-in-progress (correct)

It is a dynamic and flexible team structure

It promotes effective communication and collaboration

It focuses on individual and group autonomy

What is the role of level 1 in a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?

To act as the first-level contact for customers Signup and view all the answers

What is a benefit of swarming in a service desk?

It promotes effective communication and collaboration Signup and view all the answers

What is the focus of level 3 in a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?

To provide specialist support for specific technologies and applications Signup and view all the answers

What is a key characteristic of a swarming team?

A dynamic and flexible team composition Signup and view all the answers

What is the goal of swarming in terms of work management?

To avoid the buildup of a backlog of work items Signup and view all the answers

What is a limitation of tiered support?

Cases can get lost in the backlog and take days to resolve Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the 'Dispatch swarm' in the swarming framework?

To identify and resolve cases that can be solved quickly Signup and view all the answers

What happens to cases in tiered support that can be resolved at level 3?

They are escalated to level 1 and level 2 before being resolved Signup and view all the answers

What is the benefit of swarming over tiered support?

It enables rapid resolution of a significant minority of cases Signup and view all the answers

Why do some specialists become a bottleneck in the value stream?

Because they appear to be incredibly valuable contributors Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the 'Severity 1 swarm' in the swarming framework?

To focus on the most critical cases Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of the swarming framework?

It supports a collaboration-based network model Signup and view all the answers

What happens to cases in the swarming framework that cannot be resolved quickly?

They are piled up in the queues Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Swarming Approach

Alternative to traditional tiered organizations of specialist resources
Addresses disadvantages of tiered structure through a single cross-functional and self-organizing team
Team structure and composition are dynamic and flexible, reacting to incoming work

Key Characteristics of Swarming

Relying heavily on good communication and collaboration within the team and with external stakeholders
Focusing on individual and group autonomy, rather than rigid process
Focusing on avoiding the buildup of a backlog of work items
Cross-pollinating skills and experience across all team members

Traditional Three-Tier Support Hierarchy

Level 1: frontline service desk, first-level contact for customer
Level 2: possesses deeper general or specialist skills, closely associated with the service desk
Level 3: specialist support team focused on specific technologies and applications

Disadvantages of Traditional Three-Tier Support Hierarchy

Multiple queues, creating accumulated work-in-progress
Tiered support blocks the route to the correct resolver
Work may “bounce” with multiple reassignments
Some specialists, teams or groups can be overwhelmed

Swarming in Service Desk

Replaces traditional three-tier support hierarchy
Built on a collaboration-based network model
No single definitive structure, but supports dynamic and flexible team composition

Swarming Process

Starts as soon as a case is not immediately resolvable at the point of customer contact
Rapid initial triage distributes cases to either 'severity 1 swarm' or 'local dispatch swarm'
'Severity 1 swarm' focuses on most critical cases, works on a scheduled weekly rotation
'Dispatch swarm' focuses on identifying cases that can be resolved immediately, meets every 60-90 minutes to select cases

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Description

Learn about the swarming method, an alternative to traditional tiered structures, where a single cross-functional team adapts to work demands through effective communication and collaboration.