Scientific Definition
Don't remove something until you understand why it was put there.
Plain-English Definition
Don't remove something until you understand why it was put there.
Feynman Explanation
Every weird policy was probably written after a fire.
Core Principle
Don't remove something until you understand why it was put there.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Don't remove something until you understand why it was put there.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Reform agendas that under-respect institutional memory.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Every weird policy was probably written after a fire.
Examples
- New leadership removes a process and immediately re-creates its original problem.
- Reform agendas that under-respect institutional memory.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Before removing: write the steelman case for why it exists.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Before removing: write the steelman case for why it exists.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.
The brain evolved to reason adaptively, not always truthfully, to reduce the cost of errors.
We solve problems by adding, even when subtracting would be better.
Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.
A finite set of well-defined instructions for solving a problem or performing a computation.
Every model simplifies reality; some are still useful.
Researchers favor conclusions aligned with their school, team, or sponsor.
Using personal stories or isolated examples instead of evidence.
Claiming something is true or better because most people believe it.
Assuming something is true because it is probable or possible.