Tech companies centralize decision-making quickly during crisis and decentralize very slowly afterward. The asymmetry compounds over time. If crises arrive faster than the loosening rate, centralization accumulates.
The ratchet has three compounding layers. First, mechanical asymmetry: centralizing is a single directive, but decentralizing requires building judgment and context at every level, which takes years. Second, loss aversion: organizations avoid starting the transition because being caught mid-shift when the next crisis hits feels worse than staying centralized. Third, reactive loosening: when competitive pressure does force decentralization, it produces shallow structural changes (federated org charts, squad models) rather than deep cultural ones. Shallow changes snap back the moment crisis returns.