Polaris and the many rudder operators

In the realm of Agile and Agile transformations, the analogy of a cruise ship versus a speedboat often arises. The cruise ship, representing large, unwieldy enterprises, contrasts with the nimble and precise maneuverability of a speedboat, reminiscent of startups.

However, the question arises: How did the cruise ship become so massive? Initially, most large organizations started small and agile, akin to a speedboat. But over time, they grew and expanded, transforming into colossal and sluggish monsters. Yet, one crucial element of the original speedboat did not scale alongside the organization—the rudder.

While a small rudder suffices for steering a small speedboat, the increasing disparity between the ship's size and the rudder's capacity makes it progressively difficult for the captain to exert significant control.

In a 2016 interview, President Barack Obama likened the government to a vast ocean liner with a minuscule rudder. He emphasized that presidents can only effect incremental changes that eventually redirect the course of the government, albeit slowly.

Nevertheless, the parallel between government and private companies ends at scale. Unlike the government, large organizations lack unlimited funds, and the market does not allow for the years it takes to alter an organization's direction. So, what is the solution?

Since linearly increasing the size of both the ship and the rudder over time is unfeasible, a more viable approach is to augment the number of rudders rather than scaling up the original one. Horizontal scaling surpasses vertical scaling. But how does one steer a ship with hundreds of rudders?

The answer is simple: you don't!

Attempting to adjust hundreds of rudders individually is impossible. Instead, to ensure the ship heads in the right direction, the key lies not in manually controlling each rudder, but in instructing every rudder operator to align their efforts towards the desired destination.

Similarly, within your organization, you can adopt this approach to navigate your path. As the captain, you must create and communicate your vision, replacing the North Star. By doing so, every rudder operator can independently steer the ship towards the intended destination. This decentralizes the steering problem.

One might worry that this approach will result in a zigzag pattern, preventing the organization from reaching its destination. However, this is not the case.

In his book, "The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations," published in 2004, James Surowiecki explores how aggregating information in groups often leads to decisions far superior to those made by any individual. The aggregation of numerous decisions invariably converges towards the target. Hence, this approach does not yield a zigzag pattern but rather facilitates a smooth and gradual course change towards the desired destination.

Nevertheless, it's important to note that this effect works best in non-creative tasks, which constitute the majority of operational tasks within large organizations. Therefore, the need for occasional small speedboats that the cruise ship launches to explore specific areas of interest still persists.