Scientific Definition
Organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
Plain-English Definition
Organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
Feynman Explanation
The board will spend an hour on the color of the bike shed.
Core Principle
Organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Trivial issues are easier to understand and debate than complex ones.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The board will spend an hour on the color of the bike shed.
Examples
- A committee debates the font of a report while ignoring its flawed analysis.
- Trivial issues are easier to understand and debate than complex ones.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Set agendas by impact, not by ease of discussion.
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.
- Set agendas by impact, not by ease of discussion.
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.
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