Scientific Definition
Systems should be understood as wholes, not just as collections of parts.
Plain-English Definition
Systems should be understood as wholes, not just as collections of parts.
Feynman Explanation
You cannot understand a car by cataloging every bolt.
Core Principle
Systems should be understood as wholes, not just as collections of parts.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Systems should be understood as wholes, not just as collections of parts.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Reductionism misses the emergent properties of organizations.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
You cannot understand a car by cataloging every bolt.
Examples
- Company culture is not the sum of policies; it is their interaction.
- Reductionism misses the emergent properties of organizations.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Map interactions and feedback loops, not just individual functions.
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.
- Map interactions and feedback loops, not just individual functions.
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.
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.