An unearned external resolution that discharges a problem the situation could not have solved.
From Greek theatre, where a crane lowered a god to resolve the plot. Bailouts, reorganisations and emergency funding are the institutional version: the problem is discharged, and the structure that generated it is untouched.
In practice
- A failing programme is rescued by an unexpected central grant, and the causes of the failure survive intact.
- A company avoids a difficult decision when an acquirer appears, and the acquirer inherits the decision.
- Standing
- Used of bailouts, reorganisations, and any rescue that leaves the underlying structure intact.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Design & Systems
- Essay
- Rules of thumb for building things that work