Friction

Friction is anything that raises the cost of return.

What This Means

Friction does not prevent return in principle. It makes return slower, harder, or more exhausting in practice.

Some friction is protective. It slows decisions that should be slower and preserves quality where review matters.

The friction this framework cares about is friction that specifically raises the cost of return.

Friction usually shows up as:

Each form can make small returns expensive enough that the organization defers them.

Friction does not cause drift. But when returning to coherence is expensive enough, organizations postpone it.

Deferred return becomes rationalization. Rationalization becomes norm. Norm becomes "this is just how we do things here."

The goal is not to eliminate all friction. It is to identify which friction is actively making return expensive and reduce that specifically.