Individual Incentives Disincentivize Complexity-Based Approaches to Product Development

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Organizations often resist complexity-based approaches because they feel counterintuitive and require admitting uncertainty. Strategies that embrace uncertainty and focus on meta approaches can lead to positive outcomes but are often perceived as luck by others. In large organizations, it is challenging to receive recognition and promotion for such approaches, as they are not easily measurable and do not align with the concrete, plan-driven mindset. This resistance tilts the world towards more concrete, specific plans, making it difficult for individuals to stand out by embracing indirect value and complexity-based thinking.

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Why do organizations get slower as they grow? What can organizations learn from slime molds? What are the advantages of top-down organization versus bottom-up organization, and vice versa? How can organizations encourage serendipity? What use are doorbells in jungles? Why is it so hard for organizations to set a "north star" that is at once plausible, coherent, and good?

Alex Komoroske has over a decade of experience in the tech industry as a product manager focusing on platform- and ecosystem-shaped problems. While at Google, he worked on Chrome's Web Platform PM team, Augmented Reality in Google Maps, and Ambient Computing. He's fascinated by how to navigate the emergent complexity within organizations to achieve great results. You can find some of his public writing at komoroske.com.

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