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DevOps Leader study materials
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DevOps Leader practice questions

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Question 1Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which leadership style is most strongly associated with successful DevOps transformations?

  1. Transactional leadership focused on rewards and punishments
  2. Transformational leadership that inspires shared vision and intrinsic motivation Correct answer.
  3. Laissez-faire leadership with minimal direction
  4. Autocratic leadership with top-down command and control

Explanation

The named model emphasizes shared vision, intrinsic motivation and development of people. This does not prove that transactional incentives or decisive direction are never useful; the scenario asks which listed style best matches transformational change.

Question 2Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A DevOps leader replaces command-and-control directives with serving the team by removing impediments and developing people. Which leadership concept does this best illustrate?

  1. Charismatic leadership
  2. Servant leadership Correct answer.
  3. Transactional leadership
  4. Bureaucratic leadership

Explanation

Servant leadership flips the traditional hierarchy: the leader's primary job is to serve the team, remove blockers, and grow people. It is closely complementary to transformational leadership in DevOps and is explicitly cited in the DOL syllabus as a leader behaviour that enables flow.

Question 3Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which option best describes the difference between transactional and transformational leadership?

  1. Transactional leadership uses contingent rewards while transformational leadership inspires people toward a shared vision Correct answer.
  2. Transactional leadership ignores results while transformational leadership focuses only on results
  3. Transactional leadership is always remote while transformational leadership is in-person
  4. Transactional leadership is informal while transformational leadership is formal

Explanation

Transactional leadership operates on exchanges (contingent rewards, management by exception), focusing on existing systems. Transformational leadership goes further by raising motivation through idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualised consideration, which is why DevOps adoption depends on it.

Question 4Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which of the four classic components of transformational leadership focuses on coaching individuals based on their unique needs and growth?

  1. Idealised influence
  2. Inspirational motivation
  3. Intellectual stimulation
  4. Individualised consideration Correct answer.

Explanation

Bass's four I's of transformational leadership are Idealised Influence (role modelling), Inspirational Motivation (vision), Intellectual Stimulation (challenging assumptions), and Individualised Consideration (one-to-one coaching). Individualised Consideration is the people-development element a DevOps leader uses to grow team members.

Question 5Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

What is the primary leadership argument for adopting DevOps presented in the DOL syllabus?

  1. DevOps reduces headcount by automating people out of jobs
  2. DevOps improves business outcomes through faster, safer, more reliable software delivery and stronger learning culture Correct answer.
  3. DevOps is required by law in regulated industries
  4. DevOps replaces Agile and ITIL with a single new framework

Explanation

The DOL syllabus frames DevOps as a way to improve business outcomes (speed, stability, quality, customer value) through better flow, feedback, and continual learning. It is not about cutting people, replacing other frameworks wholesale, or meeting a regulatory requirement.

Question 6Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A senior leader publicly admits to a failed deployment, shares the lessons, and thanks the team. Which transformational leadership component is this most directly demonstrating?

  1. Idealised influence (role modelling values) Correct answer.
  2. Contingent reward
  3. Management by exception
  4. Laissez-faire delegation

Explanation

Idealised influence is leading by example so that followers want to emulate the leader. Publicly modelling blameless learning after failure is a textbook idealised-influence behaviour and helps build the psychological safety DevOps needs.

Question 7Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which option best describes the role of a DevOps leader compared with a traditional IT manager?

  1. The DevOps leader writes more production code than the team
  2. The DevOps leader optimises the system of work and develops people, instead of optimising individual outputs and approving tickets Correct answer.
  3. The DevOps leader removes all process and lets teams self-direct without guardrails
  4. The DevOps leader replaces Product Management

Explanation

DevOps Leader emphasises shifting from local optimisation and gatekeeping to optimising the end-to-end system of work, growing people, and creating conditions for flow. The leader is not necessarily a hands-on coder, nor a process-eliminator, nor a Product replacement.

Question 8Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which of the following is the LEAST useful framing for a DevOps leader articulating the case for change?

  1. Faster, safer delivery improving customer outcomes
  2. Reducing operational risk through smaller, more frequent changes
  3. Cutting headcount as the primary cost saving Correct answer.
  4. Building a learning organisation that adapts to market change

Explanation

Framing DevOps as a headcount-reduction programme undermines trust, kills psychological safety, and predictably stalls transformations. The DOL syllabus frames DevOps as a way to grow capability and outcomes, not to shrink the workforce.

Question 9Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which behaviour is the strongest example of a transformational DevOps leader in action?

  1. Sets aggressive deployment quotas and penalises teams that miss them
  2. Personally signs off on every production change
  3. Articulates a clear vision, models the desired behaviours, and coaches teams through experiments Correct answer.
  4. Avoids talking about culture and focuses only on tools

Explanation

Articulating vision (inspirational motivation), modelling behaviour (idealised influence), and coaching (individualised consideration) directly map to the components of transformational leadership in the DOL syllabus.

Question 10Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

The DOL syllabus contrasts "managing" and "leading". Which statement best captures the difference?

  1. Managing focuses on doing things right within current systems; leading focuses on doing the right things and changing the system Correct answer.
  2. Managing is about people and leading is about budgets
  3. Managing is strategic and leading is tactical
  4. Managing is required only in startups; leading only in enterprises

Explanation

A common DOL framing (after Drucker and Kotter) is that management is about doing things right within an existing system, while leadership is about doing the right things and reshaping the system. DevOps transformations need both, but DOL emphasises the leadership side.

Question 11Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which leader behaviour most directly increases the team's ability to challenge assumptions and propose better ways of working?

  1. Intellectual stimulation Correct answer.
  2. Management by exception (passive)
  3. Coercive power
  4. Top-down command

Explanation

Intellectual stimulation, one of the four I's, is when leaders encourage creativity, question assumptions, and reframe problems. It is the engine of experimentation in a DevOps environment.

Question 12Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A leader who ONLY intervenes when targets are missed is exhibiting which transactional pattern?

  1. Inspirational motivation
  2. Management by exception Correct answer.
  3. Idealised influence
  4. Coaching cadence

Explanation

Management by exception is a transactional pattern: the leader engages only when something goes wrong. It contrasts with the proactive coaching and vision-setting expected of a transformational DevOps leader.

Question 13Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which combination of leadership styles does the DOL syllabus most often recommend pairing for DevOps transformation?

  1. Authoritarian and bureaucratic
  2. Transformational and servant leadership Correct answer.
  3. Laissez-faire and charismatic
  4. Pace-setting and coercive

Explanation

DevOps Leader pairs transformational leadership (vision, inspiration, growth) with servant leadership (removing impediments, serving the team) because together they create the safety and direction DevOps cultures need.

Question 14Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which of the following is NOT one of Bass's four I's of transformational leadership?

  1. Idealised influence
  2. Inspirational motivation
  3. Inspectional management Correct answer.
  4. Individualised consideration

Explanation

The four I's are Idealised Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualised Consideration. "Inspectional management" is not one of them and is closer to a transactional management-by-exception pattern.

Question 15Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

From a DOL perspective, which statement best describes why leadership style matters more than tool choice in a DevOps transformation?

  1. Tools are free, so they do not affect ROI
  2. Leadership shapes culture, behaviours, and incentives that determine whether tools and practices are adopted and sustained Correct answer.
  3. Tool vendors hire the leaders, so leadership is downstream of tools
  4. Leadership only matters in regulated industries

Explanation

DOL repeatedly emphasises that culture and behaviour drive sustainable adoption. The same tools fail in pathological cultures and succeed in generative ones, because leadership sets the conditions in which tooling is used.

Question 16Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

In David Rock's SCARF model, which domain is triggered when a team's deployment authority is suddenly removed without explanation?

  1. Status
  2. Autonomy Correct answer.
  3. Relatedness
  4. Fairness

Explanation

SCARF names Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. Removing the team’s decision authority directly illustrates an autonomy concern within that conceptual model; other concerns may also arise, and no universal neurological diagnosis is implied.

Question 17Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

What does each letter in SCARF stand for?

  1. Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness Correct answer.
  2. Safety, Compliance, Agility, Reward, Feedback
  3. Stability, Capability, Authority, Reliability, Flow
  4. Status, Certainty, Authority, Recognition, Feedback

Explanation

David Rock's SCARF model identifies five social domains the brain treats like physical survival threats: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. DOL uses it to explain reactions during transformation.

Question 18Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

An engineer proposes blameless postmortems but the manager publicly criticises individuals during reviews. Which Edmondson concept is most damaged?

  1. Psychological safety Correct answer.
  2. Span of control
  3. Cost of delay
  4. Throughput accounting

Explanation

Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Public blame destroys it and prevents the open learning that DevOps needs.

Question 19Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which statement best describes psychological safety as Amy Edmondson defines it?

  1. An environment with no conflict and constant agreement
  2. A shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking Correct answer.
  3. A guarantee that no one will be fired
  4. A regulatory requirement for software teams

Explanation

Edmondson defines psychological safety as a shared belief held by team members that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. It is not the absence of conflict, a job guarantee, or a regulation.

Question 20Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A leader announces a reorg in a single all-hands with no Q&A or follow-up. According to SCARF, which two domains are most threatened?

  1. Certainty and Autonomy Correct answer.
  2. Status and Reward
  3. Fairness and Compliance
  4. Relatedness and Recognition

Explanation

An opaque, one-way reorg announcement removes predictability (Certainty) and decision input (Autonomy). Status and Fairness can also be affected, but Certainty and Autonomy are the most direct hits when communication is one-way and forced.

Question 21Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which approach is MOST consistent with reframing GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) as a DevOps enabler?

  1. Treat compliance as a separate gate at end-of-pipeline
  2. Embed controls as code in the delivery pipeline so audit evidence is generated automatically Correct answer.
  3. Skip compliance for non-regulated products
  4. Outsource all GRC decisions to a separate audit team after release

Explanation

DOL frames GRC as an enabler, not a blocker. Embedding controls as code (policy-as-code, signed artefacts, immutable logs) lets teams move fast while producing continuous audit evidence and is the recommended pattern.

Question 22Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which behaviour most clearly indicates HIGH psychological safety in a team?

  1. No one ever disagrees with the team lead
  2. Engineers publicly admit mistakes and ask naive questions without fear Correct answer.
  3. All decisions are made by consensus and never escalated
  4. Conflicts are avoided by routing communication through the manager

Explanation

High psychological safety shows up as candid speech: people surface mistakes, ask basic questions, and challenge ideas. Avoiding disagreement, forced consensus, or routing around peers are signs of low safety.

Question 23Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A leader rewrites a long-standing approval matrix only after extensive consultation, transparent criteria, and clear appeal paths. Which SCARF domain is BEST supported?

  1. Fairness Correct answer.
  2. Status
  3. Relatedness
  4. Reward

Explanation

Transparent criteria, consultation, and an appeal path are textbook moves to protect Fairness in SCARF. Fairness is one of the strongest social drivers of trust during change.

Question 24Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which statement about "unlearning" in DOL is correct?

  1. Unlearning means forgetting all prior IT knowledge
  2. Unlearning is the deliberate process of letting go of habits, beliefs, and practices that no longer serve the goal Correct answer.
  3. Unlearning only applies to junior engineers
  4. Unlearning is a one-time event during onboarding

Explanation

Unlearning is the deliberate, ongoing process of letting go of out-of-date habits, beliefs, and practices so new ones can take hold. It applies at every level and is continuous, not a one-time event.

Question 25Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

When a leader announces a transformation, which intervention does the SCARF model suggest is MOST effective at reducing threat response?

  1. Withhold details until everything is finalised
  2. Increase certainty by sharing what is known, what is unknown, and the cadence of updates Correct answer.
  3. Promise that no jobs will ever be affected, regardless of facts
  4. Make all decisions privately to avoid distraction

Explanation

Increasing Certainty is the SCARF-aligned move: share what is decided, what is open, and how often updates will come. Withholding info, making promises you cannot keep, or hiding decisions all worsen threat response.

Question 26Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Why is psychological safety considered a prerequisite for high-performing DevOps teams (per Google's Project Aristotle and Edmondson's research)?

  1. It eliminates all production incidents
  2. It enables candid speech, fast learning from failure, and willingness to experiment Correct answer.
  3. It removes the need for technical skill
  4. It guarantees deployment frequency improvements without other changes

Explanation

Project Aristotle found psychological safety to be the strongest predictor of team effectiveness because it enables candid speech, learning from failure, and risk-taking. It does not by itself prevent incidents or replace skill.

Question 27Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A leader notices a team avoiding a demo because of a small bug. Which intervention best builds psychological safety?

  1. Cancel the demo and assign a manager to fix the bug
  2. Reframe the demo as a learning opportunity, run it openly, and explicitly thank the team for surfacing the bug Correct answer.
  3. Remove demos from the cadence going forward
  4. Single out the engineer responsible for the bug in a public review

Explanation

Reframing the demo as learning, running it openly, and thanking the team for surfacing issues all reinforce psychological safety. Cancelling, hiding, or blaming all reduce safety and learning.

Question 28Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which of the following is NOT one of the SCARF domains?

  1. Status
  2. Compliance Correct answer.
  3. Relatedness
  4. Fairness

Explanation

SCARF is Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness. "Compliance" is not a SCARF domain even though governance and compliance topics appear elsewhere in DOL.

Question 29Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

A bank leader argues that compliance prevents DevOps. From a DOL perspective, what is the most accurate counter-argument?

  1. Compliance is optional for software teams
  2. Compliance is most effective when codified, automated, and integrated into the delivery pipeline so it accelerates rather than blocks delivery Correct answer.
  3. DevOps automatically achieves compliance with no extra effort
  4. Banking software is exempt from compliance

Explanation

DOL reframes GRC as an enabler when codified, automated (policy-as-code, automated evidence), and integrated into the pipeline. Compliance is not optional, not free, and the banking exemption is wrong.

Question 30DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

In Westrum's organisational typology, which culture type is characterised by high cooperation, messengers being trained, shared risks, and novelty being implemented?

  1. Pathological
  2. Bureaucratic
  3. Generative Correct answer.
  4. Reactive

Explanation

Westrum identifies three cultures: Pathological (power-oriented), Bureaucratic (rule-oriented), and Generative (performance-oriented). Generative cultures show high cooperation, training of messengers, shared risk, and willingness to implement novelty.

Question 31DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

In Westrum's typology, which type punishes the messenger and discourages the sharing of bad news?

  1. Pathological Correct answer.
  2. Bureaucratic
  3. Generative
  4. Adaptive

Explanation

Pathological cultures are power-oriented: information is hoarded, messengers are punished, responsibility is shirked, and bridging between teams is discouraged. They produce the worst DevOps outcomes.

Question 32DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

What are the Three Ways of DevOps as described by Gene Kim?

  1. Plan, Build, Run
  2. Flow, Feedback, and Continual Learning and Experimentation Correct answer.
  3. Develop, Test, Deploy
  4. Code, Commit, Compile

Explanation

Gene Kim's Three Ways of DevOps are: First Way - Flow (left-to-right system thinking), Second Way - Feedback (right-to-left amplification), Third Way - Continual Learning and Experimentation. The DOL syllabus uses these as a foundation.

Question 33DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Which Three Ways principle is MOST directly improved by shortening lead time and limiting work in progress?

  1. First Way: Flow Correct answer.
  2. Second Way: Feedback
  3. Third Way: Continual Learning
  4. Fourth Way: Compliance

Explanation

The First Way is Flow, which focuses on left-to-right movement of work from Dev to Ops to customer. Reducing batch size, limiting WIP, and shortening lead time are flow-improvement levers. There is no "Fourth Way".

Question 34DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

A team holds blameless postmortems and shares the results company-wide. Which Way of DevOps is this most aligned to?

  1. First Way: Flow
  2. Second Way: Feedback
  3. Third Way: Continual Learning and Experimentation Correct answer.
  4. None of the above

Explanation

The Third Way is Continual Learning and Experimentation. Blameless postmortems and broad sharing of lessons turn local failure into organisational learning, which is the essence of the Third Way.

Question 35DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Conway's Law states that:

  1. Software always grows faster than infrastructure
  2. Organisations design systems that mirror their own communication structures Correct answer.
  3. Every team should have its own database
  4. All software must be open source

Explanation

Mel Conway's 1968 observation: "Any organisation that designs a system... will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organisation's communication structure." This is foundational to DOL's organisation-design content.

Question 36DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

DevOps Kaizen most closely refers to:

  1. A Japanese deployment tool
  2. Continuous, small, incremental improvements to the way work is done Correct answer.
  3. A radical one-off reorganisation
  4. A martial arts technique unrelated to DevOps

Explanation

Kaizen is the Lean idea of continuous, small, incremental improvements driven by the people doing the work. DevOps Kaizen applies this to delivery practices and is a core mindset shift in the DOL syllabus.

Question 37DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Which option BEST describes the difference between traditional siloed IT and a DevOps-aligned organisation?

  1. Traditional IT has more meetings than DevOps
  2. DevOps replaces processes with chaos
  3. DevOps emphasises shared goals, end-to-end ownership of services, and cross-functional collaboration; traditional IT optimises function-by-function with handoffs Correct answer.
  4. DevOps requires removing all governance

Explanation

The DOL framing contrasts function-optimised, handoff-heavy IT with end-to-end, shared-ownership DevOps teams. DevOps adds collaboration and shared goals; it does not remove governance or replace process with chaos.

Question 38DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Westrum's typology was used in the State of DevOps Reports as a predictor of which set of outcomes?

  1. Software delivery and operational performance, plus organisational performance Correct answer.
  2. Cloud spend efficiency only
  3. Office occupancy rates
  4. Vendor selection cycles

Explanation

DORA's research used Westrum's culture typology and found generative cultures predict better software delivery and operational performance and stronger organisational performance overall. DOL leans heavily on this finding.

Question 39DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Which leadership move best transforms a bureaucratic culture toward a generative one?

  1. Add more sign-off layers to ensure compliance
  2. Train messengers, share risks across teams, and make blameless learning visible at the top Correct answer.
  3. Restrict cross-team communication to formal channels only
  4. Discourage novelty until all rules are formalised

Explanation

Generative cultures train messengers (rather than punish them), share risks, encourage novelty, and bridge teams. The other options reinforce bureaucratic patterns.

Question 40DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

What is a "shared goal" in a DevOps organisation?

  1. A goal each function defines independently
  2. An outcome-oriented goal Dev and Ops are both accountable for, such as customer-perceived availability or change success rate Correct answer.
  3. A revenue target unrelated to delivery
  4. A goal owned only by senior management

Explanation

A shared goal is an outcome both Dev and Ops co-own (e.g., availability, lead time, change failure rate). It eliminates the incentive to optimise locally at the expense of the system.

Question 41DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

A leader is mapping team interactions to system architecture. Which Conway-related concept is the leader applying?

  1. Inverse Conway Maneuver Correct answer.
  2. Brooks's Law
  3. Goodhart's Law
  4. Pareto Principle

Explanation

The Inverse Conway Maneuver intentionally designs the organisation's communication structure to drive the desired software architecture. It is a deliberate use of Conway's Law as a design tool.

Question 42DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

In Westrum's typology, what is the typical posture toward novelty in a generative organisation?

  1. Crushed
  2. Tolerated
  3. Implemented Correct answer.
  4. Outlawed

Explanation

Westrum specifically describes the generative posture toward novelty as "implemented". Pathological cultures crush novelty, bureaucratic cultures merely tolerate it.

Question 43DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Which behaviour is MOST consistent with the Second Way of DevOps?

  1. Establishing fast, reliable feedback loops from production back to development Correct answer.
  2. Reducing batch size in deployments
  3. Holding quarterly innovation hackathons only
  4. Centralising all decisions with the CIO

Explanation

The Second Way is Feedback: amplifying right-to-left feedback so problems are detected and corrected fast. Reducing batch size is more associated with the First Way (Flow).

Question 44DevOps adoption, culture and delivery flow

Which option best summarises the leader's role in becoming a DevOps organisation?

  1. Issuing detailed work instructions and approving every change
  2. Setting shared outcome goals, building cross-functional teams, and creating conditions for flow, feedback, and learning Correct answer.
  3. Outsourcing decisions to vendors and consultants
  4. Avoiding involvement so teams can self-organise without guidance

Explanation

DOL frames the leader as the architect of conditions: shared outcome goals, cross-functional structures, and cultural support for flow, feedback, and learning. Detailed instruction or hands-off neglect both miss the point.

Question 45Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Conway's Law most directly motivates which DevOps organisation-design technique?

  1. Inverse Conway Maneuver Correct answer.
  2. Story-point estimation
  3. Pair programming
  4. Trunk-based development

Explanation

The Inverse Conway Maneuver intentionally shapes team and communication structures to drive a desired software architecture. DOL highlights it as the practical leadership response to Conway's Law.

Question 46Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

In Team Topologies, which team type is responsible for end-to-end delivery of a slice of customer value?

  1. Stream-aligned team Correct answer.
  2. Enabling team
  3. Complicated subsystem team
  4. Platform team

Explanation

Stream-aligned teams own the fastest possible flow of change for a slice of business value end-to-end. They are the dominant team type and the others exist to support them.

Question 47Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which Team Topologies team type provides time-bounded coaching to other teams to fill capability gaps?

  1. Stream-aligned team
  2. Enabling team Correct answer.
  3. Complicated subsystem team
  4. Platform team

Explanation

Enabling teams help stream-aligned teams acquire missing capabilities (e.g., observability, security) on a temporary basis. They do not own the work permanently.

Question 48Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Which Team Topologies team type owns and runs an internal product (such as a developer platform) used by other teams?

  1. Stream-aligned team
  2. Enabling team
  3. Complicated subsystem team
  4. Platform team Correct answer.

Explanation

Platform teams treat their offering as an internal product used as self-service by stream-aligned teams. They reduce cognitive load and are central to scaling DevOps.

Question 49Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

Team Topologies defines three team interaction modes. Which option lists them correctly?

  1. Collaboration, X-as-a-Service, Facilitating Correct answer.
  2. Reporting, Approval, Escalation
  3. Push, Pull, Broadcast
  4. Plan, Do, Check

Explanation

The three Team Topologies interaction modes are Collaboration (close working), X-as-a-Service (consume something well-defined), and Facilitating (one team helps another build capability).

Question 50Leadership, operating models and sustainable change

What is the difference between a Target Operating Model (TOM) and an organisation design?

  1. They are identical
  2. A TOM describes how the organisation must operate to deliver its strategy (capabilities, processes, data, technology, people, governance), while organisation design specifies the team and reporting structures that realise it Correct answer.
  3. Organisation design is strategic; TOM is tactical
  4. Only consultancies use TOMs

Explanation

A TOM is a strategy-driven blueprint of how the organisation must operate (capabilities, processes, data, tech, people, governance). Organisation design is a downstream artefact: the team and reporting structures that realise the TOM.