Beyond Optimization: The Strategic Value of Un-Designing Enterprise Systems
Apr 13, 2025
Deconstructing complexity to create space for intentional redesign in large-scale organizational systems.
Enterprise service design is often viewed as an exercise in optimization—making existing processes faster, more user-friendly, and better aligned with business goals. However, many of today's enterprise systems were not designed with modern needs in mind. They have evolved in fragmented, reactive ways, accumulating complexity over time. This creates a fundamental challenge: We cannot simply "redesign" broken systems—we must first Un-Design them.
Un-Design is the act of critically deconstructing existing enterprise systems to uncover their hidden assumptions, inefficiencies, and constraints. By stripping away outdated structures, we create the space to redesign with intention, applying service design principles to build systems that are more adaptable, sustainable, and human-centered. One of the greatest challenges of Un-Design at scale is understanding how deeply interconnected these systems are and anticipating the unintended impacts that changes may cause.
The Challenge of Un-Design in Highly Connected Systems
Enterprise systems are deeply interwoven, with layers of dependencies, legacy constraints, and operational functions built over years—sometimes decades.
The biggest risk in Un Design is the unintended impact of change. When we alter a system, we don't just modify a single function; we potentially disrupt a network of processes that rely on it.
This complexity means that orchestrating change at scale is fundamental to making Un Design and redesign work in large enterprises. Unlike startups or small businesses, where changes can be quickly tested and iterated upon, enterprise systems operate at scale, and even small miscalculations can shut down critical functions.
For example, in banking, changing a core system isn't just about improving customer experience—it directly affects customers' ability to access funds,
make transactions, and conduct daily business. If Un Design is not executed with precision, the resulting disruption can erode customer trust
and create systemic failures.
Thus, any attempt to Un-Design and orchestrate change must consider:
End-to-end connectivity: Understanding the full scope of dependencies before making structural changes.
Impact modeling: Simulating changes before implementation to anticipate unintended consequences.
Phased orchestration: Implementing change in controlled, iterative waves to minimize risk.
The Problem: Why Big Ideas Fail in Enterprise Systems
In large enterprises, big ideas often fail not because they are impossible, but because the systems they rely on were never designed to support them. Many organizations attempt to introduce innovation through incremental improvements, layering new technologies and processes on top of legacy structures. However, this approach reinforces old constraints rather than addressing their root causes.
Common challenges include:
Siloed Systems: Enterprise services often operate in isolation, with disconnected teams and redundant processes.
Over-Engineered Complexity: As systems grow, they accumulate unnecessary layers, making change difficult and costly.
Misaligned Incentives: Different departments optimize for their own goals rather than a unified service experience.
Legacy Debt: Historical decisions constrain how services can evolve, limiting agility and scalability.
Service design, when applied to existing enterprise systems, often runs into these challenges. Instead of solving problems at their root, organizations end up designing around the constraints, leading to suboptimal experiences.
Un-Design as a Precondition for Effective Service Design
Un Design requires organizations to step back before moving forward—to dismantle unnecessary complexity and rethink foundational assumptions. This approach involves:
1. Mapping the Unintended Consequences of Legacy Design
Identify pain points in existing systems, not just in terms of UX but in operational and structural inefficiencies.
Analyze decision debt—past choices that now create barriers to innovation.
Surface invisible constraints—rules, workflows, or assumptions that no longer serve their purpose.
2. Deconstructing Before Rebuilding
Challenge why a system exists in its current form—what problem was it originally solving?
Separate core business needs from outdated implementations.
Determine what should be eliminated, not just improved.
3. Designing for Modularity and Adaptability
Instead of building monolithic solutions, adopt experience objects—reusable service modules that can evolve over time.
Shift from rigid, centralized control to distributed, flexible service layers.
Embed design loops—mechanisms that allow continuous iteration and course correction.
Applying Service Design to Redesign with Intent
Once the Un Design process has removed friction and obsolete constraints, service design can operate as intended—creating cohesive, user-centered, and scalable service experiences. Key principles include:
Holistic Systems Thinking: Redesign services by considering end-to-end workflows, breaking down silos between teams and technologies.
Human-Centered Optimization: Rebuild around actual user needs rather than existing operational structures.
Service Modularization: Create services that are reusable, adaptable, and composable rather than hard-coded into specific use cases.
Continuous Experimentation: Implement iterative testing, allowing services to evolve in response to changing needs.
Orchestrating at Scale: Ensure that changes happen sequentially, safely, and with built-in safeguards to minimize risk.
Case Example: The Challenge of Enterprise Segmentation
Consider the challenge of customer segmentation in financial services. Many banks use hardcoded segmentation models built over decades. These models dictate how customers interact with products, how they receive service, and how data is managed. However, these models were designed for a different era of banking and struggle to accommodate modern personalization and AI-driven insights.
Instead of layering more AI and analytics onto a broken segmentation system, a better approach would be to Un Design segmentation itself—removing outdated classifications, allowing real-time, adaptive segmentation models, and creating a modular system where customer experiences evolve dynamically.
However, orchestrating such a shift must happen at scale. Banks cannot simply delete existing segmentation logic overnight—doing so could lead to unintended consequences, such as misidentifying high-value customers, causing compliance failures, or disrupting automated decision-making in credit approvals. The transition must be staged, modeled, and iterated to ensure that each change is measured, reversible, and safe for operations.
Conclusion: Making Space for What's Next
Organizations cannot innovate on top of systems that were never meant to support modern needs. By embracing Un-Design as a prerequisite for redesign, enterprises can clear away accumulated complexity, rethink foundational structures, and unlock service design's true potential.
The future of enterprise service design is not just about making things better—it's about making space for what's next. And for that, orchestrating change at scale is not optional—it is fundamental to success.