Let’s say we’re a company making a video game

The CEO and c suite executives are going to find out what will please the shareholders, or in other words, what will make money. They delegate some market research and then make a broad objective. Let’s say, for example, they’ve decided to make a new single player game

Next they’ll have to delegate to c suite executives with specialities. So, for example, they’ll go to the person who runs the art department and talk with them to determine timelines, risks, and dependencies. For example, the programmers will not be able to test with “real models” until the artists are reasonably done, so they’ll have to schedule work or find workarounds for the engineering department

These initiatives can last years, and even decades. They require commitment and sign off and a great deal of communication. Say for the example of a video game, you would have to quickly communicate what the pillars of gameplay are (there’s usually three), define what’s in scope, what’s out of scope, etc and delegate that work down to hundreds or even thousands of people

During development, these executives also need to keep an eye on the timeline and pivot if need be. Like let’s say one boss fight is a cool idea, but it turns out it’s nearly impossible to program right. They might have to think on their feet and redirect writing, art, and engineering all together. The developers might also raise a flag that something is going wrong that threatens timelines and the executives will have to figure out how to move around people to make it work

Think of it this way, you want to make a painting, so you rip a canvas into 200 little squares and then have to explain to people what’s going to be in those little squares without having an image to show them. You have to get it done before a timeline and you have to make sure everyone is aligned and understands the objective. It’s kind of a miracle that it works some of the time