I’d say there’s probably a bit of both, though the larger element at play would most likely be systemic.

In theory, the decentralized system was supposed to have advantages over centralized. But in practice, the way it was designed from the start - like any other system - was sure to have flaws. At least in a centralized system, there tends to be a hierarchy of power where one or a few highly competent people can take the reigns, assess where the flaws at, and initiate the change. Without such leverage though... well, I guess that’d depend on the strength of the system.

I imagine that Dan fucked off early because he recognized that there were flaws in the system that couldn’t be fixed once it was in motion, just as much if not more because of his differences with Ned. Though either way, I wouldn’t have imagined Ned was really in a position where anyone person could’ve altered the course of the ship so dramatically so as to assess every single detail of what was flawed and restructure everything as would’ve been needed to get things “on course.” (And then again, what would “on course” look like exactly, in this decentralized world where there are hundreds/thousands of different opinions and visions of what this could be).

Though, who knows. we can make guesses and loose assessments, but there’s always a lot more details to a complex system that’d require understanding to properly say - and more likely than not, it’d be impossible to pin the causes down to any one root...