System Trap: Rule Beating

My favorite example of “rule beating” is the secure network that reduces usability to the point that people use hot spots and other mechanisms to complete their work. If you want developers to work, they need stackoverflow.

From “Thinking in Systems” by Donella H. Meadows, which I a few weeks ago.

THE TRAP: RULE BEATING

Rules to govern a system can lead to rule beating—perverse behavior that gives the appearance of obeying the rules or achieving the goals, but that actually distorts the system.

THE WAY OUT

Design, or redesign, rules to release creativity not in the direction of beating the rules, but in the direction of achieving the purpose of the rules.

traps