1. BSO
A short history
martijn@upstream.nl, @martijnkriens

2. Martijn Kriens
• Director Health-Lab & Amsterdam Living Lab
• Board member IIP-SaaS
• Univ. of Applied science Amsterdam
• Founder Medical Data Recorder
• Partner iCrowds, Upstream
• MSc Business Science
• Director BSO/Quality Innovation
• Twitter: martijnkriens
• Skype: martijn.kriens
• Mail: martijn.kriens@icrowds.net
• Tel: +31 6 43088338
• Blog: www.iCrowds.net

3. Topics
• Short description BSO
• Differences from Self management
• Main lessons
• The demise, lessons learned

4. Eckart Wintzen

5. History
• Start in 1975 with a management buyout
– 25 people
• In 1990 2500 people
– in 50 Ltd. companies
• 1991 acquired outsourced Philips IT
– 4000 people
• In 1996 sold to Philips
– 6000 people

6. Mission
Helping
medium
and
large
organiza0ons
with
the
introduc0on
of
new
technologies
(secondment)

7. Cell philosophy

8. Cell philosophy

9. Effects
• Shared Genes
– Unwritten procedures
• “this is how it is done”
– Shared culture (almost the same DNA)
• Mutual dependency, human sized
– Dunbar number: 50, the band
• Many entrepreneurial roles

10. Each cell a profit centre
• Freedom in:
– Approach to the market
– Selection of colleagues
• No separate HR, IT (self supporting)
• No check on contracts ex ante
• Cooperation with other cells

11. Focus
• No Freedom in:
– Where to sell
– Housing, Logo’s, house style, Office decoration
– Financial system
– Press relations

12. Difference from Self Management
At first sight…
Director
Technical manager Commercial manager
Office manager
Employees

13. Director as Coach

14. Strong culture
• Freedom ánd accountability
• Being different
being proud
• Quality

15. Transparancy
“in Walkabout Creek, when you have a
problem, you tell Wally. Wally tells everyone.
Problem solved..”

16. Transparancy
• Peer audits
– Semi yearly audits by colleague directors
– Audits with understanding
• Monthly reports visible for all
– Easier to help
– Finding best practices

17. Selection of colleagues
• 4 hours off / 4 hours awake
• Danger of storms, hurricanes, icebergs
• Risk of getting killed
• Pay: -100.000

18. Selection of colleagues
Hiring now

19. Selection of colleagues
• Interviews with at least 6 future colleagues
• When one person hestitates: NO
• Everything within the cell
• Strong buy in from both sides
• For key roles internal candidates

20. Limits of model
Large customers, national accountmanagement

21. National culture
Not everybody is Dutch

22. International differences

23. Demise: lessons
The importance of the top
Trust yourself and not the loony they call
President
Tom Peters

24. Less coach, more boss
• Eckart Wintzen until 1996
• Henk Cohen (until 1998)
– The quarrel Boonstra
• Tom Butler & Geoffrey Carroll (until 2000)
– Tom & Jerry, EDS, Rationalisation
– Goodbye to cell structure: chaos
• In 2000 sold to ATOS (French…)

25. Daisyworld
The importance of redundancy

26. Summary
• Human size
• Independence & Trust
• Strong mutual goals and morals
• Freedom & Accountability

27. Be yourself and by doing that be
different than others
Eckart Wintzen
1939-2008