To update the company’s forecast for a newly hired employee, for example, someone on the finance team typically needs to send a series of emails across the finance and HR departments.

This is the economy now. Not a distribution of opportunity. A redistribution of friction. But friction isn’t the enemy!!!! It’s information. It tells us where things are straining and where care is needed and where attention should go.

And it's not all bad news. Because friction is also where new systems can emerge . Every broken interface, every... See more

The idea that eliminating friction can cause problems might sound unusual, as we’re used to thinking about more efficiency producing more effectiveness, but among engineers like me, this concept is commonly understood. Too little friction can lead to feedback loops that spiral out of control, as happens when a microphone gets too close to a speaker

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