01 / Decisions
More ideas. The same approval queues.
A team can finish building sooner and still wait weeks for a release approval or next funding decision. Faster coding does not shorten those queues.
Where work waits ↗The operating model for the AI era.
Turn faster delivery into better outcomes.
AI can make software much faster to build. But that doesn't mean better outcomes for companies. ZeroBlockers changes how your organization chooses, funds and supports that work, so small teams can actually deliver what customers really need.
The constraint has moved
Faster teams.
The same old blockers.
AI makes building cheaper so choosing well and acting on customer evidence become more valuable. Leaders need to change the conditions around the team, or faster delivery just reaches the same bottleneck sooner.
02 / Ownership
More output. Who owns the outcome?
Shipping a feature does not establish that it helped customers. Someone needs the responsibility and authority to follow the result and change the solution.
The accountability challenge ↗03 / Alignment
More coordination. Less time for strategy.
When routine changes need several teams to adjust their plans, more delivery capacity can mean more coordination. Leaders spend their time resolving the same blockers.
Busywork versus strategy ↗The ZeroBlockers approach
Remove the blockers.
Give a small team a customer outcome, not a list of features. Let it research, test, build and improve together, with a small amount of work in progress and evidence guiding the next decision.
Unfortunately, that's the easy part. You then need to change the conditions around that team: its ownership, decision rights, funding and access to expertise. You need to know which blockers to remove and how to still provide the guardrails and necessary alignment. This is leadership work, not another team ceremony.
See the six changes that make it possibleOne principle for the whole system
Zero blocking dependencies from idea to satisfied customer.
The ZeroBlockers framework
Six changes.
One system.
Faster delivery changes what the whole organization needs to do. Updating the team’s process alone leaves funding, decisions and shared services as the next constraints.
Change the process, and teams still wait for shared specialists. Give teams ownership, and project funding still dictates what they deliver. Ask them to experiment while governance rewards sticking to the plan, and the old behaviors return.
The six changes work together, so each supports the others. But you can't change them all at once. Start with one team, and redesign the system around it.
- 01
Process
One team researches, designs, builds, and improves in a continuous loop, guided by customer evidence.
Explore process - 02
Structure
Small teams with the skills and decision rights to own a value stream from end to end.
Explore structure - 03
Governance
Agree the outcomes, review the evidence, and decide what to do next.
Explore governance - 04
Funding
Fund persistent customer value streams, with room to learn and change the solution.
Explore funding - 05
Alignment
Give teams the strategic context to make decisions without escalating every choice.
Explore alignment - 06
Scaling
Build shared capabilities and self-service products that help more teams act independently.
Explore scaling
Practices in action
The practices already work. Connect them.
The good news is that the practices are already tried and tested. At UXDX companies have been sharing the way they have been helping their teams deliver higher quality results for customers, faster. The contribution of ZeroBlockers is to connect them into one explicit operating model.
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Tracking Strategic Outcomes Through Weekly Business Reviews
How Amazon uses the Weekly Business Review (WBR) process to track and manage strategic outcomes effectively within a structure of empowered teams, ensuring alignment with long-term business goals.
Consumer Electronics
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Micro-frontends
Exploring how DAZN accelerated innovation and team autonomy by removing blockers from their teams through the adoption of micro frontends, transforming their development process and scalability.
Music Streaming
Autonomous Teams
How Spotify solved the problem of 'lean-back' listeners even when management were uncertain.
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Continuous Discovery through Research Ops
How Kiwi.com enhanced its product discovery process by establishing a comprehensive research operations (research ops) infrastructure.
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Scaling with Ecosystem Teams
How Haier continuously evolved their organisational structure to manage empowered teams more effectively.