A loop that counteracts deviation stabilises a system and resists outside intervention.
The thermostat, the central bank and the disciplinary process are all balancing loops. The awkward property is that they resist intervention as vigorously as they resist disturbance.
In practice
- A performance management process resists improvement as vigorously as it resists neglect, because both are deviations.
- A budget process that returns to the same allocation each year is not failing; it is doing what a balancing loop does.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Design & Systems
- Essay
- Why systems behave against intuition