𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 > 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁

𝗢𝗸𝗮𝘆, 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 - 𝗜’𝗺 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗙𝗘𝗠𝗔 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆. 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲, 𝗶𝘁’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱. (𝗘𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗧 𝗴𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀.)

I was out on a walk recently, listening to a podcast when something caught my ear:

A proposal in the current U.S. administration to break FEMA (the organization that coordinates disaster recovery and response in the US) into parts that would plug into other organizations. The hosts raised an important concern - that fragmenting FEMA might make things less efficient, not more.

It immediately brought me back to my early days in networking (not the coffee and business card kind, but the IT infrastructure kind).

Back then, we used a 𝗵𝘂𝗯-𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 for storage networking:

A 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 (usually a big data center back then, but you can also think of cloud infrastructure as core these days), directing all the nodes (switches) in branch offices. It worked because that core (ideally) had visibility across the system. It could distribute policies, optimize resources, and keep the whole operation humming.

But when organizations started decentralizing those systems, something shifted.

Each branch had more local control, sure - but they also needed their own IT teams, their own processes, and their own tools.

Coordination dropped. Transparency faded. Silos grew.

And ironically? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲.

It’s not all that different from how we build teams.

Decentralized autonomy has its place - but without shared clarity, purpose, and connection to the center, even the most talented teams can start pulling in different directions; creating their own game plans misaligned from the organization as a whole.

𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁.

It means building the connective tissue that lets each part contribute to something greater.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿—𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺.

Because when the core is strong, the whole organization moves smarter.

𝗜’𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀: Have you ever worked in a system where the “center” was missing? What happened? I’d love to hear your perspective.