A traditional organization has high alignment but low autonomy, because managers tell people what to do and how to do it. In the kind of organization parodied by the comic strip Dilbert, neither the manager nor the workers know why they are doing what they are doing. This is a low-alignment/low-autonomy organization. A modern technology engineering organization (or an entire organization like Amazon or Spotify) seeks to have high alignment and high autonomy. Everyone knows what the goal is, but they are empowered to find their own way to do it.