Scientific Definition
Optimizing in a small region while missing a better global solution.
Plain-English Definition
Optimizing in a small region while missing a better global solution.
Feynman Explanation
You climbed the tallest hill in the neighborhood, not the mountain.
Core Principle
Optimizing in a small region while missing a better global solution.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Optimizing in a small region while missing a better global solution.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Incremental optimization can trap you far from the best answer.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
You climbed the tallest hill in the neighborhood, not the mountain.
Examples
- Refining a current product instead of exploring a disruptive new model.
- Incremental optimization can trap you far from the best answer.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Periodically explore radically different alternatives, not just refinements.
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.
- Periodically explore radically different alternatives, not just refinements.
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.