moc: [[Peak performance]] status: growing *When considering how stable a system is, focus on the variability, averages disguise lots of problems.* This reminds me of [[luck and risk are two sides of the same coin]], and we can be blinded by them into thinking we understand a process or why it has occurred. It's kind of like how [[volatility is the tax you pay for growth]] When [[Thinking in Systems]] and exploriung and trying to understand a system, the volatility can be hidden in averages. This matters because in lots of systems the volatility is more important, memorable etc. like in [[peak-end effect]]. If you want to think about the likelihood of patients being upset by their wait in the ER, the extreme outliers are going to have an outsized impact on the outcomes than the averages. ### What would the opposite argument be? The averages such as mean, median, etc. are key indicators of the health of a system. ## Sources: