The document discusses exponential organizations (ExOs) and their attributes. It provides explanations and example questions for 11 attributes that define ExOs: Staff on Demand, Algorithms, Leveraged Assets, Engagement, Community & Crowd, Interfaces, Dashboards, Experiments, Autonomy, Social Technologies, and Massive Transformative Purpose. The attributes allow ExOs to be 10 times better, faster, and cheaper than traditional organizations by leveraging external resources and using data/automation. The document aims to help organizations adopt ExO principles through workshops and certification.

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Craig Terblanche
Leveraging Exponential Possibilities
We’re leveraging exponential technologies to be more human while embracing a digital future.
People are being left behind and
increasingly excluded from
economic development and
financial inclusion
Exponential thinking can liberate
and accelerate learning and
enlighten collective intelligence

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Version 2 Exponential Organisations
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The unseen power of Exponentials
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Linear vs Exponential companies
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Introduction to Exponential Organizations
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EXO - Massive Transformative Purpose
6 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Crafting an MTP can be challenging. In the early
stages of forming your MTP, try separating the
intent— what you want to achieve— from the
actual wording. It is easy to get sidetracked by
the phrasing when you're still in the phase of
pinpointing the actual purpose.
● Why does the organisation exist?
● What is the purpose of the organisation?
● What is the target of the organisation?
● Do kids and grandma’s understand it?

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ExO Attributes - 11 Attributes overview
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The ExO Canvas
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Data & algorithms
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Interfaces
Experimentation
Autonomy
Social Technologies
Dashboards
ExO Attributes - SCALE
Staff on Demand
Algorithms
Leveraged Assets
Engagement
Community and Crowd
MTP
MASSIVE TRANSFORMATIVE PURPOSE
TAP INTO ABUNDANCE MANAGE ABUNDANCE

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ExO Attribute - Staff on Demand
12 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Leverage external workers rather than
"owning" employees in order to
increase speed, functionality, and
flexibility while decreasing fixed costs.
● Can we build a cloud of external
employees?
● How could we have the best
employees for each activity?
● How should we find and hire, using and
agency, direct, local, remore, platform?

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ExO Attribute - Community & Crowd
13 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Attract, engage, and leverage a community
whose like-mindedness inspires support,
adding creativity, innovation, validation, and
even funding.
● Is there and existing community we can
leverage?
● How will we turn external community into
advocates?
● How will we create value for the community?
● How can the community create value for our
product?

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ExO Attribute - Algorithms
14 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Leverage automated functions, including
machine learning and deep learning, to get new
insights about customers, products, and
processes.
● Why are we developing algorithms?
● Which labor/activity/task can we automate?
● Which algorithm/systems/platforms are you
going to use to process/leverage the informatio
you have?

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ExO Attribute - Leveraged Assets
15 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Access, rent, share, or otherwise outsource
assets to stay nimble and reduce capital
expenditures.
● What fixed costs can we move off the balance
sheet by renting them?
● What processes can we outsource?
● Is there spare capacity lying around which we
could re-purpose?

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ExO Attribute - Engagement
16 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Leverage outside interest through
gamification, digital reputation systems, and
incentive prizes to create network effects
and positive feedback loops.
● What contests/promotions can be created to
increase customer acquisition?
● How can we leverage gamification to
improve our products and services?
● How can you make people use your product
every day?

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Interfaces
Experimentation
Autonomy
Social Technologies
Dashboards
ExO Attributes - IDEAS
Staff on Demand
Algorithms
Leveraged Assets
Engagement
Community and Crowd
MTP
MASSIVE TRANSFORMATIVE PURPOSE
TAP INTO ABUNDANCE MANAGE ABUNDANCE

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ExO Attribute - Interfaces
18 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Customized filtering and matching to
process the output of external attributes
(SCALE) into the internal organization.
● Can we build an API to connect our systems
with our community?
● Can we create a marketplace to drive
growth?
● What can we do to provide my
product/service in a self-service mode?

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ExO Attribute - Dashboards
19 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Make real-time information with essential
company and employee metrics accessible
to everyone internally with short feedback
loops.
● Why do you need real-time data?
● What real-time data do you need to
track/measure?
● What systems will you use in order to
measure that data?
● What will you do with this data?

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ExO Attribute - Experiments
20 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
One of the key principles of Lean Startup is
to make data-driven decisions, which means
data needs to be gathered about the
experiment, regardless of whether it's an
interview, an MVP, or another kind of
experiment.
● What do you want to learn and what
experiments will you run to do it?
● How will you measure the success of the
experiments?
● How can we encourage experimentation
within the organisation?

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ExO Attribute - Autonomy
21 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Flat structure allowing individual employees
and/or self-organizing, multidisciplinary
teams to operate effectively.
● How can we reduce decision-delay or
approval chains?
● How can we avoid too much management
and allow staff to grow?
● Is there a framework/tools we could use
(OKR, Holacracy, etc.)

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ExO Attribute - Social
22 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)
Leverage collaborative tools to have real-time
conversations with transparency and
connection across the organization.
● How will we leverage social technologies to
improve communication (within our
team/community/clients)?
● What social network tools can we use?
● Can we use social tools to do some of the
work for us?

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Introduction to the ExO Sprint
23 Ismail, Salim. Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better,
faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)

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– OpenExO Community and Certification

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https://bit.ly/EXOcert

27. Craig Terblanche
Certified OpenExO Ambassador,
Consultant, Trainer and Sprint Coach
www.openexo.com
craig@exofutures.africa