Tragedy of the Commons
Shared resources — attention, trust, a team's goodwill, a market's reputation — are depleted when each user takes rationally and nobody owns the whole; communities that monitor and sanction avoid it.
An everyday example
Every team sending 'just one more' notification until users mute the app.
What it can cost you
Depleting a commons you depend on; being in a market where competitors are depleting it for everyone.
Warning signs
- Each use is small and the total is ruinous.
- Nobody owns the thing we are all using.
One thing to do
Name the commons, measure it, and set rules with monitoring and graduated sanctions; Ostrom's principles are the template.
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