Introduction

Many teams map work as simple trees. This article shows why naming how things connect matters more than where they sit.

What's the problem it solves?

Most companies describe work using clean hierarchies like goals to projects to tasks. This hides how work really flows. When teams do not label relationships clearly, strategy, execution, and learning break at scale.

Quick Summary

John Cutler explains that clarity comes from naming relationships, not just listing things. Goals, initiatives, teams, data, and decisions can relate in very different ways. Small changes in how we describe these links change how companies plan, learn, and execute.

He shows this through examples. Goals can guide initiatives, justify them, limit them, or just report on them. Strategy models can assume certainty and top-down control, or uncertainty and learning through bets. These models look similar on slides but drive very different behavior.

Cutler also explains why scaling team practices often fails. What works in a small team does not scale cleanly to many teams. Real company systems look like messy networks with many feedback loops, not neat ladders. When people are allowed to model freely, they naturally draw networks, not trees.

Key Takeaways

• Hierarchies hide how work actually happens.
• Relationships carry meaning, not just structure.
• Strategy models encode beliefs about certainty and learning.
• Many agile practices break when scaled without change.
• Real operating systems look like networks, not trees.

What to do

• Map your company as a network, not a ladder.
• Label relationships like influence, learning, and ownership.
• Question what your strategy model assumes about certainty.
• Stop copying team practices upward without redesign.
• Use models to learn, not just to report.

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