Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined is when trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0433, within the Decision Bias family. The core principle: when trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
When trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy.
Plain-English Definition
When trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy.
Feynman Explanation
We measured what was easy. So we did what was easy.
Core Principle
When trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy.
Mechanisms
When trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy.
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
We measured what was easy. So we did what was easy.
Examples
- Engagement metrics tracked because they were measurable; outcomes ignored because they weren't.
- Operating system slowly optimized for ease of measurement, not value.
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Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
Most organizations meet this element as a personnel problem. It is not one. The mechanism underneath it is straightforward: when trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: we measured what was easy. So we did what was easy. Every element in the Cognition dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, aI evaluation built on the metrics that were already in the dashboard. It is amplified whenever operating system slowly optimized for ease of measurement, not value. Inside organizations that shows up as operating system slowly optimized for ease of measurement, not value. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to build the metric for the outcome, not the outcome for the metric. Measure the behavior, not the sentiment. A survey will tell you how people feel about this; only observed action tells you whether it changed.
Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
- Build the metric for the outcome, not the outcome for the metric.
Measurement Approaches
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Evidence
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Build the metric for the outcome, not the outcome for the metric.
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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.
Doing something feels safer than doing nothing — even when nothing wins.
Feelings act as shortcuts for facts.
Over-reliance on the first number that hits the table.
Adding a clearly worse option steers people toward the option you wanted.
Whatever is pre-selected wins more often than it should.
We value things more once they're ours.
The same information lands differently depending on how it's wrapped.
We disproportionately prefer rewards now over rewards later.
We overvalue things we built ourselves.
Believing more information leads to better decisions, regardless of relevance.
Losses hurt roughly twice as much as equivalent gains feel good.
We treat money differently depending on which bucket it's in.
Where Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayGoodhart's Law in the Real World
How measurable proxies capture judgment.
- EssayThe Perverse Incentives Hiding in Your KPIs
Cognitive shortcuts turned into scorecards.
- CourseIncentives 101
The free ten-part primer on reading a payoff structure.
- ReferenceThe incentive glossary
Definitions for every mental model, bias, and fallacy in the corpus.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
Questions about Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined
- What is Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined?
- Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined is when trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0433, within the Decision Bias family. The core principle: when trivial metrics become the target, the trivial becomes the strategy. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- What is an example of Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined?
- Operating system slowly optimized for ease of measurement, not value. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-COG-0433).
- How is Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined exploited?
- AI evaluation built on the metrics that were already in the dashboard.
- How do you design around Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined?
- Build the metric for the outcome, not the outcome for the metric.
- Which behavioral dimension does Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined belong to?
- Law of Triviality + Goodhart Combined is classified in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Decision Bias", class "Cognitive Bias". Its permanent identifier is HBT-COG-0433 and its evidence grade is B.