Relying on an outside intervener erodes the system's own capacity, which deepens the dependence.
Senge's archetype. Painkillers, consultants, and foreign aid all show it: the intervener's capability substitutes for the system's own, which then atrophies, which increases the reliance.
In practice
- A parent who does the homework to end the argument finds the argument arriving earlier each evening.
- A department that outsources its analysis loses the ability to specify what it wants analysed, and the dependence deepens each year.
- Subject
- Design & Systems
- Essay
- Why systems behave against intuition