A keystone employee’s importance is measured by what breaks when they leave, not by how visible or senior they are while they’re still there. 2 min read What Is It? A keystone employee is someone whose absence would cause a disproportionate disruption in how the organization functions, regardless of title, tenure, or visible performance. The…
Identity threat occurs when change is experienced as a threat to who someone believes they are, rather than simply to what they do. 2 min read What Is It? Identity threat is what happens when a change, decision, or comparison threatens someone’s sense of who they are rather than simply what they do. The identity…
Orgel’s Rule shows that a system running trial and error for years has usually already solved problems no designer thought to ask about.
Stigmergy shows that coordination doesn’t require anyone to be coordinating.
The Allen Curve shows that distance doesn’t have to be large to quietly end a working relationship.
Chesterton’s Fence shows that the behavior you want to remove is often the evidence you need before you remove it.
Goodhart’s Law shows that a measure and a target are not the same thing, and treating them as the same thing is what breaks the measure.
Gall’s Law shows that a working complex system is something you grow, not something you draft.
Conway’s Law shows that your product’s seams are usually a map of your org chart’s seams.
Ashby’s Law shows that you cannot simplify your way into control over something more variable than you are.
The IKEA effect shows that people don’t just value what they build, they value what they finish building.
Out-group homogeneity bias shows that “they’re all like that” is usually a measurement of contact, not a finding about the other group.
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