The usual answer points to bureaucracy, but the real bottleneck is how reporting lines force every decision into a “who‑owns‑what” maze. When a team member raises a problem, the request must climb up to a functional manager, wait for a cross‑functional sync, then descend to the execution owner. Each hop adds latency, dilutes context, and creates a hidden queue that nobody sees. In 1982 Toyota introduced the Andon cord, a literal rope that any line worker could pull to stop the line and summon immediate help from the nearest specialist, bypassing the hierarchy. The cord’s power lay not in the physical rope but in the rule that the first person to answer—regardless of title—must act, turning every interruption into a rapid, localized decision. Modern org charts replace that rope with layers of matrix approvals, so the same issue now spends hours in email threads before a junior engineer can get a sign‑off. The result is a systemic drag: teams spend more time negotiating authority than delivering value.

If you map who actually makes each type of decision in your group, you’ll likely discover that the “owner” listed on the chart rarely intervenes, while the real gatekeepers sit hidden in adjacent functions. By exposing that mismatch and re‑routing the flow, you restore the Andon principle—anyone can summon the right expertise instantly, and the first responder is empowered to act without climbing the ladder. The payoff is not just speed; it’s a culture where accountability is visible, and delays become an exception you can spot and cut.