---
id: "action-map-real-organization"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Designing from the Real Organization"]
tags: ["discovery", "process-mapping"]
related: ["framework-surface-implicit-layer", "concept-implicit-organization"]
action: "Interview workers using three specific questions to map the implicit organization before designing AI workflows."
outcome: "A complete system specification that accounts for undocumented human coordination, motivation, and discretion."
speakers: ["K. Sudhir"]
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-new-26-agentic-systems-implicit-rules"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-to-design-agentic-systems-around-the-implicit-rules-that-govern-your-company"
sourceTitle: "How to Design Agentic Systems Around the Implicit Rules that Govern Your Company"
---
# Map the real organization before reengineering

**Action:** Interview workers using three specific questions to map the implicit organization before designing AI workflows.

**Outcome:** A complete system specification that accounts for undocumented human coordination, motivation, and discretion.

Before deploying AI agents, interview the humans currently performing the role. Ask them (via [[framework-surface-implicit-layer]]):
1. What do you notice that isn't in the data?
2. What do you care about beyond your job description?
3. When do you typically slow down or hesitate?

Use the **gap between their answers and the formal process manual** as the *actual specification* for the AI system. This is Step 1 of [[framework-design-real-organization]] and the discovery front-end of informed reengineering ([[framework-three-responses]]). It operationalizes surfacing the [[concept-implicit-organization]].