The Alignment-Industrial Complex

How Fragmented Authority Destroys a Company's Ability to Compete

The meetings went well.

Every week, 250 customers call this insurer to correct their mileage. Letting them do it online would save customers time and the insurer money. Customers want it. Shareholders have been promised digital transformation. Management calls it a priority. Two years later, the calls are still coming.

At the fictional insurer in this book, every department can meet its targets while the company fails to deliver. Agreement changes none of the permissions required to finish. Keeping the departments aligned becomes a business of its own, with budgets and careers to protect.

While the company negotiates permission, a competitor can improve its service and learn from the result. Giving someone the authority to finish means taking power from people the company is already rewarding. Those people help decide what changes. The agreed improvement is better alignment.

The customer is still waiting.
Two years of bonuses have been paid in full.

Read the preface, first four chapters and Part I essay here. The complete edition contains the argument across 18 chapters, an epilogue, a Monday field note, glossary and evidence note. The versioned Technical Field Guide is a free implementation companion.

Download the free Technical Field Guide

Download the machine-readable Field Guide source

1. Preface (free sample)
2. It Should Be Simple (free sample)
3. Selling Them Alignment (free sample)
4. The Meeting Worked (free sample)
5. No Design Is Bad Design (free sample)
6. Essay: Why Simple Changes Become Programmes (free sample)
7. The Business Business (paid edition)
8. Autonomy Without Verbs (paid edition)
9. The Centre Says No (paid edition)
10. The Contract Was Right (paid edition)
11. Delivered to Nobody (paid edition)
12. Essay: The Boundary (paid edition)
13. The Company Is Green (paid edition)
14. The Interest Rate (paid edition)
15. Eligible to Wait (paid edition)
16. Four Layers Down (paid edition)
17. Essay: The Represented Company (paid edition)
18. The Unit Fails Well (paid edition)
19. The Second Unit Is Political (paid edition)
20. The Desk Was Slow (paid edition)
21. The Trough (paid edition)
22. The Data Gate (paid edition)
23. Essay: Retirement (paid edition)
24. Epilogue: Felix Returns (paid edition)
25. What to Do on Monday (paid edition)
26. Glossary (paid edition)
27. Sources and Evidence (paid edition)
28. Works Cited (paid edition)