The Insider

My observation of air travel is that if there is one significant impact on a flight, there are guaranteed two additional impacts. An example: if my gate changes at the last moment, it is quite likely that departure from the gate will be delayed, followed by a further delay on the tarmac. Unexpected changes in complex systems create further unexpected changes downstream because complex systems are, well, very complex. A simpler and more personal way to look at this is that when you are traversing complex systems (airports, credit card websites… really any large bureaucracy), there are two paths: The happy path. Whatever you are attempting to do (fly home, change your auto-pay settings, paying a bill) is a well-known and on-the-rails process. You can sense this happiness because as you complete each action, you receive feedback: “Yes, we know what you are trying to do. Yes, we can help. Yes, we know what to do next. Don’t worry. We got you.” Divergence from the happy path leads to one…