In many organizations, problems are treated as personal when they are structural, or escalated when they require better orientation rather than intervention.

Much of the existing language around work focuses on fit — between people and jobs, people and organizations, or people and culture. While useful, these perspectives often under-theorize how roles interact, how coordination breaks down, and how pressure emerges over time as organizations evolve.

ORIN emerged from practical work in complex, multi-role environments where these dynamics mattered more than individual traits or intentions.

It exists to help people locate tension before deciding what to do about it.

ORIN treats work as something that happens through interaction, not in isolation.

• Organizations create context, constraints, and priorities
• Roles define responsibility, authority, and interfaces
• Individuals inhabit one or many roles over time
• Networks emerge from how roles depend on and coordinate with each other

Many problems arise between these layers, not because individuals fail.

ORIN helps surface those distinctions.

ORIN draws on established thinking in role theory, systems thinking, and organizational sense-making, while focusing explicitly on how these interact in everyday work.

ORIN is not:

• a method for implementation
• a decision-making system
• a maturity model or assessment tool
• a prescription for how organizations should work
• a replacement for judgment, management, or other theories

It is intended to be used alongside other lenses, not instead of them.

ORIN can be used:

• to explore where a situation or tension actually sits
• to avoid prematurely personalizing systemic issues
• to revisit situations as roles, organizations, and networks change
• as a shared vocabulary for reflecting on work over time

ORIN is shared as a conceptual reference, not as a finished system.

Its language is intentionally simple.
Its use depends on judgment and context.
It is meant to remain compatible with other ways of thinking about work.

ORIN is expected to evolve through use rather than formal adoption.