TBM 44/52: Dissonance, Diffusion, and Debt
A person (A) keeps asking their manager (B) for a much-needed tool. The manager hits their limit and shifts the load to a purchasing manager (C), who they know will not reply. C has adapted to protect themselves from directly saying No. A eventually resigns themself to not getting the tool and lets their work degrade. C knows they didn’t approve the tool but successfully reframes the issue as one of “tightening the purse strings during a downturn.” This shifts some burden to C’s manager (D). D promises that the issue will be resolved during the next budgeting cycle (shifting the load to the budgeting cycle).A hits another limit—they aren’t proud of their work anymore—and finds another job. This then puts newfound pressure on B, who reframes the whole thing as a “well, A wasn’t a team player!” The person B hires next is less likely to complain about tools.
Great example of an emergent quality of a system. Probably no one’s explicit purpose was to manage out people like A, but through other more explicit goals it becomes the function of the system anyway. Those goals may be something like “ensure Bs are highly utilized” or “keep budget approvals to a minimum”.