Q&A

1. Why is alignment costly?
2. How do centralization/decentralization differ?
3. Where does alignment matter?
4. Which decisions should be taken centrally?
5. What’s the right amount of processes?

Why is alignment costly?

Alignment can be expensive because it takes a lot of coordination between people and teams, and that coordination uses up time, attention, and energy. Trying to keep everyone perfectly in sync requires many meetings, updates, reviews, and clarifications, which can slow things down. The more an organization tries to get rid of every inconsistency, the more it adds to the effort needed for synchronization. A better way is to set up work so that less coordination is needed, using specific points for synchronization only when it’s important to avoid big problems. It’s okay to have small differences or outdated information as long as they’re fixed quickly and don’t have serious effects.

Pursuing perfect alignment can lead to diminishing returns because the time spent aligning reduces the time spent on actual work. In reality, organizations naturally function with some level of inconsistency—people forget things, interpret information differently, or may be unavailable. Trying to maintain a perfect, always-up-to-date understanding is unrealistic and not efficient. Instead, successful organizations focus on flexible, imperfect alignment: they adjust their direction often across projects instead of trying to keep everyone on the same page all the time. A bit of chaos isn’t just unavoidable; it can often be the best way to maintain high momentum.

How do centralization/decentralization differ?

How you align teams will involve decisions about what to centralize or decentralize. Both have advantages and disadvantages, so it’s worth considering them in a broad organizational context.

Centralized	Decentralized
Economies-of-scale	Wasteful
Easy to control	Hard to control
Deep knowledge	Broad knowledge
Single point of failure	Resilient
Slow changes	Adaptable
Homogeneity	Heterogeneity
Interoperability	Incompatibilities
One solution	Reinvention

Where does alignment matter?

The aspects of alignment that matter most depend heavily on the context in which a team operates, and different domains demand emphasis on different dimensions. Alignment may center on user experience, security, performance, data integrity, regulatory compliance, brand consistency, technical architecture, customer service standards, or even ethical guidelines.

For example, a consumer-facing mobile app requires strong alignment on UX and brand identity so that every feature feels coherent and polished. A logistics company building fleet-management tools may instead prioritize alignment on data accuracy and operational workflows to ensure deliveries, routing, and inventory stay synchronized. A fast-moving startup might align on rapid experimentation and minimal process, while a medical device manufacturer must align on safety protocols, documentation, and rigorous testing.

Understanding which aspects of alignment are most critical in your context helps organizations coordinate effectively while maintaining flexibility elsewhere.

Which decisions should be taken centrally?

Centralized decision-making is most valuable for strategic decisions.

• Long-term, organization-wide consequences
• Requirement for a unified, stable direction
• Decisions impacting overall strategy and company vision
• Major investments or brand positioning
• Compliance with ethical or regulatory standards
• Foundational architectural choices affecting every product or team
• Decisions that are costly to reverse and involve multiple stakeholders
• Need for a holistic, cross-functional perspective

Decentralizing operational tasks allows for greater autonomy and flexibility within teams, empowering individuals to make decisions that best suit their local context.

• Day-to-day execution concerns (e.g., feature prioritization and workflow design)
• Implementation details that require specific context
• Local process improvements and experimentation
• Decisions made by teams closest to customers and technology constraints
• Agile responses to operational realities
• Tailoring solutions to specific team contexts
• Increasing speed and ownership among teams
• Avoiding bottlenecks caused by central leadership

The healthiest organizations establish a clear boundary: leadership determines what direction the company is aiming for and sets a few non-negotiable standards, while teams maintain autonomy over how to achieve those goals.

What’s the right amount of processes?

Processes are organizational constructs that require maintenance, updates, enforcement, and effective communication. For processes to be beneficial, individuals must align with them, which incurs a cost. If the benefits outweigh this cost, their implementation may be justified. However, over time, processes can accumulate and burden the organization. Thus, processes should be viewed as costly instruments to be used sparingly. Some overhead can be mitigated through automation. Additionally, processes can be eliminated altogether if their underlying intent becomes ingrained in the organizational culture. Processes that do not provide benefits exceeding their costs should be removed. Processes to prevent failures should be reviewed carefully: failures should be acceptable as long as they are not catastrophic. It’s crucial to implement automated guardrails or compliance measures to prevent such failures from occurring, rather than implement processes that anyway don’t work reliably.