Intervention bias
Предвзятость вмешательства · Interventionism
The compulsion to «do something» even when doing nothing has the better expected outcome.
Doing nothing is silent. It doesn't generate stories, status, or credit. Doing something is visible - even when it's wrong. So organisations, doctors, parents, politicians, project managers default to action whether or not action is the right call.
Combined with iatrogenics, intervention bias is one of the largest hidden sources of harm in expert-driven domains.
A team is performing well. A new VP arrives. The VP «sees opportunities» and reorgs. Performance drops. The pattern repeats every two years.
- 1Make «do nothing» an explicit option with the same standing as any active option.
This part of the knowledge base is inspired by the book. Go to the Ukrainian edition to explore the concept in depth.
- · Меточка по Талебу - interventionism