Scientific Definition
Variation, selection, retention — the engine of cumulative change.
Plain-English Definition
Variation, selection, retention — the engine of cumulative change.
Feynman Explanation
The mechanism that produced you also produces obsolescence.
Core Principle
Variation, selection, retention — the engine of cumulative change.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Variation, selection, retention — the engine of cumulative change.
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Strategy is evolutionary design: variation, selection, retention.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The mechanism that produced you also produces obsolescence.
Examples
- Product lines, organizational practices, and entire industries evolve by this loop.
- Strategy is evolutionary design: variation, selection, retention.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Engineer all three. Don't just generate ideas — select and retain them.
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.
- Engineer all three. Don't just generate ideas — select and retain them.
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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.
Combining substances to create a new material stronger than its parts.
A single constraint limits the throughput of an entire system.
A system's throughput is constrained by its single slowest step.
Small visible disorders signal that bigger ones will be tolerated.
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
Adding people to a late project makes it later.
A substance that speeds up a reaction without being consumed.
Nonlinear systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions.
Inputs combine under conditions to produce new outputs — sometimes irreversibly.
Software architecture mirrors org structure.
Working together has a cost that scales with the number of people.
The threshold at which a system becomes self-sustaining.