Podcast
The Coordination Tax
Why execution breaks when shared reality lags behind.
Conversations with operators, founders, and leaders who've lived the reality of keeping organizations aligned. Not consultants who theorize about it — people who've watched coordination break, rebuilt systems, and felt the pain of teams working on conflicting priorities.
Hosted by Kristian Luoma, Co-Founder & Head of Product at In Parallel. From Helsinki, Finland.
Why this show exists
Every organization pays a coordination tax.
30–40%
of a manager's week spent keeping people and systems in sync
Day 1
is when most plans start going stale
Zero
teams actively working on reducing this tax
Status meetings generate noise, not signal. Plans become artifacts the moment they're written. Teams gradually drift apart and the gap goes unseen. The bigger the organization, the higher the tax.
This podcast isn't about project management. It's about shared reality — how organizations build it, maintain it, and what happens when it falls behind.
Format
35–45 minute conversations that go deep.
Video-first on YouTube, distributed to all audio platforms.
Provocative openings
Every episode starts with a hook question that creates immediate tension. Never "tell us about yourself."
War stories, not theory
Concrete examples, mistakes, and honest accounts of what happened vs. what should have happened.
The host has opinions
This is a conversation, not an interview. Kristian shares frameworks, pushes back, and explores ideas together with the guest.
Actionable closing
Every episode ends with a direct piece of advice for someone struggling with the episode's theme right now.
Themes
Six territories we explore.
Coordination Breakdowns
Where and why execution falls apart between strategy and delivery.
AI & Work
How AI is changing how organizations coordinate. Not hype, reality.
Organizational Design
Structures, rituals, and systems that enable or hinder alignment.
Execution at Scale
What changes when you go from 50 to 500 to 5,000 people.
The Human Layer
Leadership, culture, and psychological safety in high-coordination environments.
Tools & Systems
Why project management tools fail and what should replace them.
Coming soon
Upcoming episodes
Season 1: The Hidden Cost — establishing the Coordination Tax concept through diverse guest perspectives.
James Fielding
ConfirmedFounder & Managing Partner, Camojee
Why system-wide business development outperforms rainmaker-dependent firms by 42%
April 9, 2026
Audience
Who this show is for.
Program Managers & PMO Leads
You orchestrate cross-team delivery and feel the coordination tax in every standup.
VPs of Operations
You're responsible for execution at scale and see alignment break daily.
Chiefs of Staff
You bridge strategy and operations and need language for the gap you see.
CTOs & COOs
You make system-level decisions about how work flows through your organization.
Team Leads
You're on the front line — translating strategy into action every day.
Founders (50–500 employees)
You're hitting the coordination wall as you scale past "everyone knows everything."
Have a story about coordination that broke?
We're looking for operators, founders, and leaders who've lived the reality of keeping organizations aligned. If you've rebuilt systems, felt the pain of drift, or found a way to reduce the tax — we want to hear from you.
Get in touch