As an engineering leader, you’re not managing a cruise ship. You’re managing a flotilla.

Quick Deep Dive into a recent Jason Warner Analogy™

Flotilla vs Cruise ship

As an engineering leader, you’re not managing a cruise ship. You’re managing an entire flotilla.

🛳 A cruise ship is a single entity that moves in a single direction at a single speed. Treating your company like this might be a safe bet.

But it’s limiting.

It’s a rigid, inflexible structure in which your organization may struggle to adapt to changing circumstances.

🚢 A flotilla, on the other hand, is a formidable armada of multiple boats.

They’re all working toward a shared goal, usually with a single admiral giving all of the orders.

Approach your organization like the admiral of this flotilla

Think of every team in your organization as a separate ship in your armada.

Each one can move in its own direction and at its own pace.

But they’re each working towards a single goal – your organization’s overall success.

As a structure, this will give you much greater flexibility and adaptability.

Encourage communication and collaboration between teams

Just like ships in a flotilla work together to navigate the waters.

Each team can bring their unique strengths and perspectives to the table, and by working together they can achieve more than they would individually.

As the admiral, it's your job to ensure that each team is aligned with the overall strategy and goals of the organization, while also giving them the autonomy to make decisions and move at their own pace.

—

This is a Jason Warner Analogy™ found on this episode of Developing Leadership.

Follow us for weekly topic explainers, favorite moments and mini weekly deep dives!

—

Developing Leadership is powered by Athenian. We are introducing a winning approach to engineering metrics that can help you empower your teams to autonomously improve. If you want to learn more, go to athenian.com