Implementing 'No Wrong Door' Policy in Engineering Organizations

Some governmental agencies have started to adopt No Wrong Door policies, which aim to provide help–often health or mental health services–to individuals even if they show up to the wrong agency to request help. The core insight is that the employees at those agencies are far better equipped to navigate their own bureaucracies than an individual who knows nothing about the bureaucracy’s internal function. For the most part, technology organizations are not complex bureaucracies, but sometimes they do seem to operate that way.

The text discusses the concept of "No Wrong Doors," a policy adopted by some governmental agencies to provide help to individuals, even if they approach the wrong agency. The author suggests that engineering organizations can adopt a similar approach to connect individuals with the right team and information, making the first contact point a support system for navigating the bureaucracy successfully. This approach aims to create positive relationships, clarify areas of ambiguous ownership, educate individuals asking for help, and provide immediate feedback if routed to the wrong person. The author advocates for initiating three-way conversations to effectively roll out the "No Wrong Door" policy.