Propagation Rules¶

Initial rules. All [Hypothesis] until tested in cases.

R1. Sign can flip between levels. Local efficiency can create global waste (a team optimizing its metric pushes cost downstream). Local waste can be a global buffer (spare capacity absorbing a shock elsewhere).

R2. Delay grows with level. Customer and economy effects arrive late. Fast selectors miss them, so changes are judged at the level where feedback is fastest.

R3. Selection weakens with level. Higher levels select more slowly and noisily, so local optimizations harmful at higher levels survive longer.

R4. Leverage compounds upward. A change in steering or allocation propagates further than a change in conversion.

R5. Claim shifts don't propagate as flow. Changes that move control of a flow without changing it show up in metrics at the level of the actors involved and as friction everywhere else.

Recording format¶

Change: <lever + description>

| Level        | Effect on flow | Sign | Delay | Who notices first |
|--------------|----------------|------|-------|-------------------|
| Work result  |                |      |       |                   |
| Team         |                |      |       |                   |
| Organization |                |      |       |                   |
| Customers    |                |      |       |                   |
| Economy      |                |      |       |                   |

Sign flips: <where and why>