If things aren’t going as planned, Monarchy Thinking arrives at a single conclusion: remove opponents who are standing in your way. There is one final decision point that we can choose to avoid being the “messenger that gets shot”. It’s a story of Kanbans, obstacles, options, and escalations on one side, versus how to start a “no blame” culture on the other.

Jobs are a leftover from monarchy thinking. Switching to roles provides more flexibility, turns deciders into advocates, and helps monarchs become mentors. It forms the fifth option in a system of checks and balances that allow Democracies and Monarchies to not only work together but also self-correct. Leveraging these decision points we can create environments of guaranteed success, regardless of the size of the project, industry, skill levels, and culture.

Accountability is one of the biggest sources of waste. Focusing on winning actually generates more losers. It is possible to guarantee success using psychology-based shortcuts to understanding customers, Set-Based Design, MVPs, and “working backwards from the future.”