Occasionally, social groups become infected with a pernicious mindvirus: the idea that they can easily solve complex problems by starting over from scratch. For example, see Sonos’s disastrous decision to redesign their app from the ground up.
Such initiatives are doomed to fail because they violate a fundamental law of the universe. It was first articulated by John Gall in the mid-1970s, and therefore bears his name. Alas, massive from-scratch redesigns are still doing lots of damage. I wanted to discuss them with Harry, so that’s the focus of episode 11 of our podcast.
I brought a short reading from Gall’s book, Systemantics: The Systems Bible:
how does it come about, step by step, that some complex Systems actually function? This question, to which we as students of General Systemantics attach the highest importance, has not yet yielded to intensive modern methods of investigation and analysis. As of this writing, only a limited and partial breakthrough can be reported, as follows:
A COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT WORKS IS INVARIABLY FOUND TO HAVE EVOLVED FROM A SIMPLE SYSTEM THAT WORKED
The parallel proposition also appears to be true:
A COMPLEX SYSTEM DESIGNED FROM SCRATCH NEVER WORKS AND CANNOT BE MADE TO WORK. YOU HAVE TO START OVER, BEGINNING WITH A WORKING SIMPLE SYSTEM
Diligent search for exceptions to these Axioms has yielded negative results. The League of Nations? No. The United Nations? Hardly. Nevertheless, the conviction persists among some that a working complex System will be found somewhere to have been established de novo, from scratch. Our friends the mathematicians and engineers, in particular, may insist that these formulations are too sweeping; that they set forth as Natural Law what is merely the result of certain technical difficulties, which they propose to overcome in the near future.
Without committing ourselves too strongly to either camp, we will remark that the mechanism by which the transition from working simple System to working complex System takes place is not known. Few areas offer greater potential reward for truly first-rate research.
We’ve known about Gall’s Law for at least fifty years. So why do we still try to redesign complex systems from scratch? Because of ignorance and hubris. The smarter someone is, the likelier they are to overestimate their knowledge and abilities and underestimate the scope served by long-standing systems.
Chucking such systems is a costly mistake. As Gall points out, if you must start over, the best response is starting with a working simple system and evolving it from there. There are a design patterns that help; we discussed three of them in the show.
Gall’s Law has been a key idea in my career. When Harry and I first discussed the Traction Heroes format, this was among the first readings that came to my mind. I was glad to finally discuss it on the show. I hope our conversation proves valuable to you.