Coordination Systems in the Wild

How organizational coordination behaves in the real world.

Practical examinations of how authority, information, constraints, failure, and adaptation appear inside consequential organizational change.

The Series

The architecture becomes visible in practice.

Coordination Systems in the Wild examines recognizable organizational situations through the five structural characteristics—showing where coordination holds, where it strains, and what the situation asks leaders to notice.

Latest Writing

Latest from the Wild.

New field examinations of coordination systems inside real organizational change.

Some government friction is there on purpose

What the U.S. constitutional system can teach us about coordination: why distributed authority, dependencies, and constraints can create necessary friction rather than dysfunction. ...more

Coordination Systems in the Wild ,Decision Authority Constraint Visibility &Failure Containment

August 31, 20267 min read

Some government friction is there on purpose

AI authority is moving faster than risk accountability

AI adoption is changing who leads the conversation inside some organizations. In [What senior leaders want to know about AI](https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/what-senior-leaders-want-to-k... ...more

Coordination Systems in the Wild ,Decision Authority Constraint Visibility &Failure Containment

August 20, 20264 min read

AI authority is moving faster than risk accountability

Operating model redesigns expose how organizations handle risk

An operating model redesign changes more than structures and reporting lines. It creates a transition in which continuity, talent, and communication risks have to be managed while the organization is ... ...more

Coordination Systems in the Wild ,Failure Containment State Traceability &Adaptation Capacity

August 07, 20263 min read

Operating model redesigns expose how organizations handle risk

When the path from data to decision gets shorter

Toyota’s global resource-allocation process depended on dozens of spreadsheets, large planning teams, manual reconciliation and multiple approval layers. The work took weeks. Toyota then replaced that... ...more

Coordination Systems in the Wild ,Decision Authority Constraint Visibility &State Traceability

August 06, 20264 min read

When the path from data to decision gets shorter

The boundaries around an innovation shape what leaders can see

An organization decides to solve a business problem. A new product, process, or operating approach begins to take shape around that decision. Before implementation starts, though, another choice has a... ...more

Coordination Systems in the Wild ,Constraint Visibility Failure Containment &State Traceability

July 31, 20263 min read

The boundaries around an innovation shape what leaders can see

Decision Authority During Digital Transformation

Digital transformation changes who can decide, override, approve, and resolve exceptions—not only which technology the organization uses. ...more

Coordination Systems in the Wild ,Decision Authority &Digital Transformation

July 24, 20263 min read

Decision Authority During Digital Transformation