Law of Eternal Reorgs – Structure Shift. Behaviors don’t.
Reorgs arrive with confidence.
They leave without accountability.
From the Footnote:
- John survived his fourth reorg in eighteen months.
- Titles changed.
- Reporting lines bent.
- New acronyms appeared indecks before they appeared in conversation.
- Boxes moved left. Then right.
- Then diagonally—suggesting depth.
The Boss called it strategic clarity.
The Strategist called it operating model evolution.
The Communicator updated email signatures by noon.
Work continued exactly as before.
The same people still decided.
The same people still waited.
The same bottlenecks remained—now with clearer labels.
The Gatekeeper moved two boxes left.
Authority stayed exactly where it was.
The Busy One gained three dotted lines and lost no meetings.
The New Joiner studied the org chart like a map to a city that didn’t exist.
Fragment from a recovered email:
This new structure enables faster decisions and clearer ownership. While reporting lines will change, ways of working will remain consistent to ensure stability.
Please update your signatures accordingly.
Further clarity will emerge post-transition.
Questions can be directed to your new manager once identified.
There was no follow-up.
John updated his signature three times in six weeks.
Nothing else moved.
Johnny recorded the constant:
Reorgs rearrange structure to simulate progress.
Behaviour stays to preserve control.
Johnny’s Footnotes is a satirical instrument, infused with humour, for understanding organisational dysfunction, grounded in The Anatomy of Nonsense, also known as the Grand Unified Theory of Bullshit, finally documented so you no longer have to pretend it isn’t happening.
Meet John’s Colleagues. They are here (& almost everywhere).
Disclaimer: The Footnote is a satire — an observation, not an accusation. If it feels uncomfortably accurate, that’s just coincidence. You’re simply not important enough to be targeted.
Follow the Genesis of the Laws
