The Four Layers of Practiqual™

and why it matters

If you have been following me, you will see that I am done with the Agile market and using #frakAgile a lot. Although done, I am not out, as I don’t give up easily. I have been building something new for all of us and starting to reveal what it is. My goal is to sense check if there is interest from you and others. What I am building is Practiqual™, a leadership approach to dealing with complex problems, complex businesses, and complex markets.

One of the designs in Practiqual™ is a series of layers focusing on different areas. Each layer serves a clear purpose, from defining what good leadership looks like to creating structure for delivery to sharing tools that actually work. Together, they provide a complete approach to product delivery and organisational improvement.

1. The Foundation – Leadership Built for Complexity

Intention: Establish the kind of leadership needed to succeed in building complex products within complex organisations.
Focus: Leadership style, decision-making, alignment, quality mindset, and governance that supports change.
Outcome: Clarity and confidence in how leaders lead, how teams align, and what good delivery looks like.

This layer sets the tone. It focuses on leadership that brings clarity in uncertain conditions, builds trust across teams, and drives meaningful results. It addresses the real issues that derail delivery: misalignment, unclear standards, and reactive decision-making.

It also defines what good governance looks like. It should be lightweight, adaptive, and transparent. The Foundation helps leaders lead change with intention, not just react to it. When this layer is strong, everyone understands what good looks like. Decisions can be made with confidence and consistency.

2. The Framework – Structure for Delivery and Decision-Making in Complexity

Intention: Provide a structured approach for leading delivery, making informed decisions, and tackling challenges as they emerge.
Focus: Quality control, product management, risk management, teamwork, and shared decision-making across teams.
Outcome: A scalable delivery model that helps organisations respond to complexity with confidence and clarity.

This is where leadership intent becomes practical. The Framework offers a working model for how delivery happens. It helps define how teams collaborate. How decisions are made. How leaders guide complex, multi-team work.

It includes structure for product leadership, risk management, quality control, and team coordination. It gives leaders and teams a way to understand what is happening and respond early. It brings everyone together with a shared rhythm and shared purpose.

Whether you're running a large program or a small team, this framework keeps delivery flowing. It gives enough structure to reduce ambiguity, without slowing things down.

3. The Pattern Library – A Shared Toolbox of Practical How-To’s

Intention: Provide reusable practices and techniques that can be trusted, applied, and adapted.
Focus: Patterns backed by case studies, options for different contexts, and clarity of interpretation.
Outcome: A growing library of shared practices that help teams solve real problems.

This is the layer where practical know-how lives. The Pattern Library is a community-driven resource. It holds clear, well-defined patterns for solving specific challenges. Want to improve estimation? Improve customer feedback? Manage dependencies? There are multiple patterns for that. You choose what makes sense for your business, your product, and your teams.

Each pattern has one clear interpretation. No arguments. No vague definitions. Each includes real-world context and case studies. The library is designed to help the community agree on what a pattern actually is.

If there are multiple viewpoints, it means multiple patterns are at play. That is not a problem. It is a sign of diversity in approach. The community captures each valid option as its own pattern. This avoids confusion and allows for shared understanding.

Patterns will also change. Markets change. Technology changes. We change. The Pattern Library is designed to adapt with us. It is a living resource that reflects reality. Not a static rulebook.

This is where the strength of the community comes to life. As people contribute and refine patterns, the library grows in depth, relevance, and value.

4. Customisation – Shape It to Fit Your Business

Intention: Give organisations the power to tailor the approach to their product, needs, and context, without losing structure or clarity.
Focus: Customising based on your business, product, teams, constraints, and evolution over time.
Outcome: A practical way of working that reflects your real world, not someone else’s.

This layer makes Practiqual truly yours. Every organisation is different. Different products. Different pressures. Different constraints. This layer gives you the tools and guidance to adapt the foundation, framework, and patterns to your specific situation.

It does more than tell you to customise. It provides a strategy for how to start. Where to adapt. How to evolve safely. It shows you what you should change. And it also highlights what should not be changed lightly, because of the risks involved.

You will learn how to shape language, team structure, planning rhythms, and how specific patterns are used. This flexibility is paired with clear boundaries. So you have the freedom to evolve while knowing where consistency matters most.

The goal is not to copy someone else’s model. The goal is to build a way of working that fits your business. And to keep improving it as your environment changes.

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Why Community Matters

Although I am putting Practiqual V1.0 on the table, it is only the beginning. The next step is handing it over to the community for the community to manage. Yes, that is right, it’s a community thing I will step out of. I will discuss the structure as soon as my lawyers are happy. But I can hint, my mission is to protect the community and its members - you.

There is much more to this than four layers. Strong protections are built in to safeguard the community. There are career paths for practitioners, business models for trainers and consultants, and a professional certification approach based on real learning, not shortcuts. It is not a two-day course. It is not a cash grab. It is something meaningful, credible, and respected.

All of it is designed to give people something better. A professional home for those tired of the noise, the fads, and the endless power struggles and peacocking. A home where a community of people with shared intention and passion can come together to make something that works. Something that lasts. Something that is trusted.

But for now, I just want a sense check.
If the Practiqual idea speaks to you, if it feels like the kind of thing the world needs, just comment “Interested. Keep going.”

That’s it. No commitment. No obligation.
Just a simple signal that says, this makes sense — keep going.

Also, feel free to ask questions, raise objections, or make a statement about what you see in the market that needs fixing.

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Let’s Build Something That Works

👉 Let’s build a more innovative alternative.

👉 Let’s make sure it’s protected from the sharks.

👉 Let’s rebuild trust.

👉 Let’s make something new! Together.

Let’s BEEEE™ Practiqual™