Thread by @swardley

X : Can you expand on the system of theft in PST?
Me : The purpose of the system of theft was to overcome the inertia in the organisation created by existing capital. It's a pull model i.e.settlers steal from pioneers.

X : Is PST related to the 3 horizon model?
Me : No. You cannot apply horizon model to PST because horizon's vary with not only where you are on the map but horizons can also be mixed. PST simply varies with evolution.

X : Isn't Pioneer-Settler-Town Planner just Pioneer-Migrator-Settler?
Me : When I was implementing PST in 2005/06, I wasn't aware of Blue Ocean Strategy. The idea of PST is derived from Accidental Empires, 1993 and Commando, Infantry and Police as a description of companies.

... however, I've been toying with simply adopting Kim and Mauborgne's naming of pioneer - migrator - settler in order to bring the models together, though with maps this time (Blue Ocean strategy doesn't use any maps, diagrams only). I'm not fussed about labels ..

... and PST is a small part of doctrine (highlighted in blue). There are much more important things to do before you start messing with organisational structure and most companies are far from the basics such as communication and challenge (highlighted in orange).

X : How is this related to Dr Uday Phadke triple chasm model?
Me : There are many chasm in the evolution of single act because evolution consists of many diffusion curves. Three chasms are particularly strong (when we cross stages of evolution) - we call them inertia barriers.

X : How is PST related to Spotify?
Me : Well, I suppose you can think of each of the silos of pioneers, settlers, town planners as tribes, the cross silo groups of aptitude as guilds and the cells (where work is done) as squads [added in red labels] ... but ...

... PST requires the system of theft, it is designed to cope with constant evolution. I'm not sure Spotify has a systematic mechanism to deal with this. However, as per Spotify, critical is not the structure but the principles (in the case of mapping - doctrine) that is needed.

X : How is PST related to 3X model?
Me : There's a recursive element to PST, and 3X - explore, expand, extract - seems to fit well. Alas, I haven't run a company for 14 years so I can't experiment, you'd have to find someone willing to do so.

X : How do you know if PST is right?
Me : I can guarantee you that PST, as with maps will both be supplanted by better models. No model is ever right, it's wrong just we haven't found out how wrong it is yet. There is no "right" model for organisation, we're constantly learning.