Crisis engineering: Transforming organizations through crisis

In a recent InnovateUS workshop on November 19, the Layer Aleph team—Mikey Dickerson, Matthew Weaver, and Marina Nitze—introduced participants to the concept of "crisis engineering." This idea is meant to explain the shift in how we think about organizational transformation and crisis response.

Speakers came to the workshop with a range of experience in crisis management. Dickerson played a pivotal role in the Healthcare.gov rescue and later served as Deputy CIO of the United States. Weaver brought insights from both his work in the public sector and Google. Finally, Nitze, former CTO of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, shared her expertise in solving complex organizational challenges.

What is a crisis?

​​The team identified five key indicators that signal a true crisis or "cosmological episode":

1. Fundamental Surprise: Events that the organization's systems couldn't predict

2. Perception Breakdown: Loss of shared understanding within the organization

3. Disruption of Core Functions: Inability to perform essential tasks

4. High Visibility: Intense scrutiny from media or leadership

5. Non-Negotiable Timing: Fixed deadlines or urgent pressures

When three to five of these factors converge, you have a crisis—and an opportunity for rapid change.

Understanding crisis as an opportunity

The presentation stressed an important theme: crises represent unique opportunities for lasting organizational change. During crises, processes that govern most organizational behavior break down, which creates a window for introducing new patterns and behaviors.

The team explained that organizational behavior typically runs on "autopilot.” However, crises disrupt this way of working, forcing conscious decision-making and creating rare opportunities for rapid, lasting change.

"When the autopilot is off or no longer successful for proceeding through a set of problems, that is a crisis. Those are the times when you are able to make rapid, directed, and durable change at a rate that is hundreds or thousands of times faster than any other time,” Dickerson said.

Practical implementation & takeaways

To address these situations, workshop speakers provided five concrete strategies for leveraging crises:

1. Create dedicated "war rooms" for new group sense-making: The war room is a dedicated environment for new organizational patterns to emerge. It must be easily accessible for people to bring in new information, and serve as a central hub for collective understanding 

2. Establish clear, empowered decision-making authorities: Traditional layered decision-making prevents necessary action during crises. 

3. Encourage role fluidity: Old roles may no longer be relevant in crisis situations. By allowing people to take on new roles, you are enabling more effective problem-solving

4. Focus on action over planning: Action creates understanding, and individuals typically learn while doing. Instead of waiting for perfect information, encourage progress through quick experiments 

5. Build strong escalation paths to leadership: Increase the speed of decision-making and prevent paralysis 

The speakers concluded by explaining that while we can't predict every crisis, we can prepare to make the most of these opportunities when they arise. For public officials looking to drive meaningful change, understanding and applying crisis engineering principles could be the key to breaking through organizational barriers and achieving lasting transformation. 

"Crisis means new stuff is going to happen. We're suggesting that you have some influence in those moments to choose what the new things are,” Weaver said.