Boulders are obvious obstacles from a distance.

Boulders are obvious obstacles from a distance. Swarms are not, they just look like a diffuse cloud.

Imagine a conversation between a leader diagnosing slow execution and a line employee responsible for execution.

"Where's the big boulder that's making this hard?"

"There isn't one. There's a swarm of small issues, each of which requires independent coordination costs to chase down, convincing tons of different teams to do a thing that isn't a priority for them."

"Hmm, have you tried simply being more bold?"

You can't heroically slay a coordination headwind, because it's not one entity.

It's more like quicksand. The faster you try to move, the more you get bogged down in it.

The coordination cost is extremely hard to see at a distance, so it's often undercounted and hidden. But it's extremely easy to feel up close.