(2023-03-29) Cutler Tbm209 Fog And Debt Debt

John Cutler: TBM 209: Fog and Debt Debt. As a system's health deteriorates, its ability to identify and resolve challenges is progressively impaired. This kicks off a vicious cycle of declining health and increasing difficulty in diagnosing and addressing problems.

If you've been on a team in this situation, you know that feeling of not knowing where to start. "Just" addressing one facet of the problem will likely not fix the issue. (orientation; diagram of effects)

This dynamic is why letting things slip and waiting until bad things happen, or focusing only on lagging indicators, is dangerous. Waiting seems rational

It's not just the "debt" and the time/energy interest of "fixing the debt." It is also dealing with the impact of accumulated stress and not making the best decisions—debt debt. (cf technical debt)

Digging out takes a lot of work. Your best bet is prevention. (list)

As for digging out, I'll address that in another post, but in my experience, your options are limited. You must find a way to stabilize the system, limit decision fatigue, hold some things constant, and lighten the load. You can't rationalize, root cause, project plan, or motivate your way out of the situation.