Friction Is a System Design Problem

Most friction exists because systems were never designed for how work actually happens.

Most friction isn’t caused by people. It’s caused by systems quietly asking humans to compensate for their gaps.

When work feels harder than it should, something is usually missing:

• A handoff that was never designed

• A decision boundary that was never defined

• A feedback loop that doesn’t exist

• A system that assumes perfect behavior instead of real conditions

  
  

Friction is the symptom. System design is the root.

Why Friction Keeps Reappearing

Organizations often respond to friction by applying pressure:

• More effort

• More oversight

• More tools

• More urgency

  
  

What they rarely do is step back and ask:

What is the system failing to provide that people are filling in manually?

When systems don’t support the way work actually flows, people become the glue:

• They remember things systems don’t track

• They coordinate what processes don’t connect

• They catch errors that feedback loops don’t surface

• They adapt around constraints that were never designed out

  
  

That adaptation looks like resilience. Over time, it becomes exhaustion.

Diagnosing Friction as a Design Gap

Friction becomes useful when it’s treated as a diagnostic signal, not a performance issue.

Here are a few common examples of friction pointing directly to design gaps:

• Repeated clarification → unclear ownership or decision rights

• Manual tracking → missing visibility or feedback

• Frequent escalation → weak boundaries or authority

• Rework → poor upstream definition

• Hero behavior → brittle systems

  
  

None of these require more motivation. They require better design.

The Risk of Overcorrection

Once friction is acknowledged, the next risk is overcorrection.

Overcorrection looks like:

• Designing for edge cases instead of reality

• Adding controls instead of clarity

• Solving every exception instead of the core flow

• Building complexity to prevent discomfort

  
  

Overcorrected systems become fragile. They slow people down instead of supporting them.

Good system design doesn’t eliminate all friction. It removes the unnecessary friction and leaves the kind that provides feedback.

Designing Systems That Reduce Friction

Effective systems share a few characteristics:

• They make expectations visible

• They reduce reliance on memory

• They clarify ownership and boundaries

• They provide feedback close to the work

• They assume humans are imperfect

  
  

Most importantly, they are designed deliberately, not reactively.

Instead of asking:

“How do we prevent this from ever happening again?”

A better question is:

“What should the system make easy—and what should it make obvious?”

Sustainability Comes From Balance

Sustainable systems don’t depend on:

• Exceptional people

• Constant reminders

• Perfect compliance

• Continuous firefighting

  
  

They create stability by:

• Absorbing variability

• Guiding behavior naturally

• Making the right action the easiest one

• Allowing small corrections instead of big resets

  
  

This is where real transformation happens—not through force, but through fit.

The Real Progression

Friction doesn’t ask to be eliminated.It asks to be understood.

When you:

1. See friction clearly

2. Diagnose the system gap

3. Design intentionally

4. Avoid overcorrection

5. Build for sustainability

   
   

Execution becomes simpler—not because work disappeared, but because the system finally supports it.

The Takeaway

If something feels harder than it should, don’t push harder.

Pause.

Look at the system.

Ask what it’s failing to provide.

Most friction isn’t a people problem. It’s a design problem waiting to be solved.