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Gall mentions the example of an organization founded to conquer polio. With that disease all but eradicated, the foundation almost collapsed, but instead change

Gall mentions the example of an organization founded to conquer polio. With that disease all but eradicated, the foundation almost collapsed, but instead changed the goal to conquer genetic defects. Very little changed about what the organization did, and the new goal is one that isn't likely to ever be completely achieved.

matthewdgreen 3y ago
That doesn’t seem like an entirely bad thing, though. Once you have an organization built up to solve a problem, shifting those resources into solving another problem is a reasonable next step. This is not the same as TFA, which talks about organizations preventing the problem from being solved.
- cratermoon 3y ago
  > That doesn’t seem like an entirely bad thing, though. Not at all. It's an example of a good pivot. Probably Gall thought it rare enough to mention it in a book otherwise full of wisdom about how systems go wrong.
- bigstrat2003 3y ago
  I disagree. When you've solved the problem the best thing to do is to celebrate, give resources back, and then organize to solve another problem if you want. Switching missions is a bait and switch for your supporters and should be avoided.
  - matthewdgreen 3y ago
    Organizations are expensive and hard to build. If you liquidate an organization, you might free up some modest amount of cash in a bank account (and maybe some furniture, office supplies, etc.) but the cost of rebuilding that same organization will be vastly higher than the money freed up. It’s like tearing the copper out of a working industrial air conditioner and selling it for scrap: a huge waste and a loss of value in absolute terms. Perfectly reasonable to give back money to recent donors who opt out and raise it over again, though.
renewiltord 3y ago
This is a classic problem. The best example I have of it is probably Mozilla. They went out in the beginning to set up the open web. They won. Complete and total success. The web is uniformly open and standards based. The major browsers are open source and on open source engines. Unmitigated and total victory. So what's next? Well, that's what they're struggling with. What to do with a non profit that achieves its goals?
- medstrom 3y ago
  I'm sure you can find a better example, because Mozilla's goal needs continuous maintenance. If they don't continue providing a competitive browser, Chrome might start playing the role of the IE of old, free to disregard those standards you mention.

matthewdgreen 3y ago

That doesn’t seem like an entirely bad thing, though. Once you have an organization built up to solve a problem, shifting those resources into solving another problem is a reasonable next step. This is not the same as TFA, which talks about organizations preventing the problem from being solved.

cratermoon 3y ago
> That doesn’t seem like an entirely bad thing, though. Not at all. It's an example of a good pivot. Probably Gall thought it rare enough to mention it in a book otherwise full of wisdom about how systems go wrong.
bigstrat2003 3y ago
I disagree. When you've solved the problem the best thing to do is to celebrate, give resources back, and then organize to solve another problem if you want. Switching missions is a bait and switch for your supporters and should be avoided.
- matthewdgreen 3y ago
  Organizations are expensive and hard to build. If you liquidate an organization, you might free up some modest amount of cash in a bank account (and maybe some furniture, office supplies, etc.) but the cost of rebuilding that same organization will be vastly higher than the money freed up. It’s like tearing the copper out of a working industrial air conditioner and selling it for scrap: a huge waste and a loss of value in absolute terms. Perfectly reasonable to give back money to recent donors who opt out and raise it over again, though.

renewiltord 3y ago

This is a classic problem. The best example I have of it is probably Mozilla. They went out in the beginning to set up the open web. They won. Complete and total success. The web is uniformly open and standards based. The major browsers are open source and on open source engines. Unmitigated and total victory. So what's next? Well, that's what they're struggling with. What to do with a non profit that achieves its goals?

medstrom 3y ago
I'm sure you can find a better example, because Mozilla's goal needs continuous maintenance. If they don't continue providing a competitive browser, Chrome might start playing the role of the IE of old, free to disregard those standards you mention.