Why Performance Degrades Without Feedback Loops

Effort without feedback is just motion

Organizations can fall into a trap where the amount of effort going on is mistaken for progress. The people in the organization work hard and it's visible to everyone they are obviously "busy". Progress relies on forward motion, but motion without correction leads to being off course. An organizations progress does not stall because people stop working, it stalls when no signal tells them they’re off course.

A few degrees that change everything

No one sets out to end up in this state, but organizations can easily falls into the trap. Imagine a 19th century steam ship leaving New York City, aiming for Lisbon. The total distance is around ~3,400 miles.

The ship leaves heading in the right direction, but ends up being off course by just 2°. That type of error can sound trivial and is barely noticeable on a compass. You are still obviously heading east to Europe. Over long distances though, it compounds relentlessly. Without proper correction it means the ship will end up ~119 miles off course.

The problem isn’t the initial direction. It’s the lack of continuous correction.

Rewarding Busyness

Systems decay by default when feedback loops reward busyness over outcomes. People can get so caught in improving process (how to do things) and structure (who does what) that it becomes their job. Not their official job, it just starts eating up more time, energy and focus than the things they were hired to do.

The hard part for humans is figuring out the difference between being busy and delivering on outcomes. We as humans tend to view being busy as being productive, especially when you have examples of team members that aren't delivering value to the company.

I previously managed a developer team that from the outside seemed like the ultimate dream team. The team had a smart leader, interesting UI/XU focus, well defined processes and good communication. I assumed that I didn't need to be as involved with the team since from the outside things seemed like they couldn't be better.

As time went on it became clear that the team was not performing at the level I wanted them to. They seemed to be slow and constantly plagued by problems. I stepped in to see how I could help. My wake up call was attending their standup (a daily meeting) where they decided to create a meeting to plan another meeting. They were so busy with meetings and process that they had no time to actually be productive.

The team didn't start out with this way. Busyness had become their job without them knowing it. A feedback loop had developed over time that rewarded a behavior that did not deliver on outcomes.

The ironic part

You can't run a successful software business without things like logs, metrics and alerts. This data allows you to know the state of the system and empowers you to change anything that is now working the way you want.

But we are more than willing to run careers, teams and orgs on vibes rather objective outcomes.

So ask yourself, if your performance is slipping, where exactly would you see it first?