From the book, these list of “system traps” are all great. I’m betting there are more, but this is what’s included:
Policy Resistance
Trap: Putting in place policies that people will not agree to, and inevitably resist. This will cause the resistance to grow, which causes the enforcement to grow. The end result is that everyone is expending more effort to achieve the same status quo. Example: The war on drugs. Solution: Bring the actors together to find a mutually satisfactory new policy, perhaps in line with some bigger goal.
Tragedy of the Commons
Trap: There’s a shared resource and everybody benefits directly from its use by them… but the costs of use are shared amongst all who use it. Therefore there’s strong incentive to use it, and weak incentive to for not using it. This leads to overuse, affecting all involved. Example: Farming land until the soil is destroyed. Solution: Education and regulation. People need to understand the implications. Social pressure can come into play. Unfortunately many of these situations also have to be “thou shall not” solutions.
Drift to Low Performance
Trap: Performance in a system is poor, so standards are lowered. Performance continues to suffer, so standards are lowered again until they are in line with what was happening anyway. Example: You’re eating out too much, so you increase your goal for “maximum number of eating out”, which causes you to fail your new higher margin. Solution: Use “absolute” performance standards. Don’t Compare Yourself to Your Average. Compare yourself to your best.
Escalation
Trap: Essentially an arms race. Two stocks are pitted against each other. Example: Nuclear arms race. Solution: Negotiation. This one is especially tricky. The only “good” way out is to not fall in. Which is sort of the same as telling a homeless person “just have a home!“.
Success to the Successful
Trap: Someone wins a competition and are therefore rewarded with the means to make themselves more likely to win future competitions. The losers are given no such chance and therefore unlikely to win next time. Eventually it’s winner-take all. Example: Guys who are slightly bigger for their age group get selected to play more hockey, and because they play more they get better. Thus the NHL has a disproportionate number of players born during a certain time of year. Those who grow up in poverty are less likely to have the education and opportunities necessary to raise themselves out of poverty. Solution: Allow those losing the game to get out and start another one. Limit the amount of the pie any one winner can take. Input policies that level the playing field, like anti-trust laws. Provide benefits to those in need. Equity.
Shifting the Burden to the Intervenor
Trap: Addiction, essentially. When the problem reduces/disguises the symptoms, then the burden of the problem is put on the interventions truly necessary to solve it. Example: Any form of addiction. Solution: Again, the best way out is not get addicted to stuff. Otherwise - shift the focus from short-term relief to long term recovery. Find alternative ways for the symptoms to be abated.
Rule Beating
Trap: Rules to govern a system lend themselves to people adhering to the letter of the law, but not the spirit. Example: Spending your whole budget at the end of the year on something useless so that you make your forecast. Solution: Redesign the rules to incentivize good behavior and remove the capabilities of people to meet the letter of the law without meeting the spirit. Don’t use Proxy Measures.
Seeking the Wrong Goal
Trap: Defining a system purpose in service of Proxy Measures that aren’t actually coupled to what’s important. If goals are inadequately or vaguely defined, the system will diligently produce the wrong results. Example: GDP maximizing as a proxy for making people’s lives better. Solution: Again, avoid Proxy Measures where possible. Couple the feedback mechanisms as closely as possible to the true system purpose.