Diagnose broken loops by mapping onto Act-Observe-Evaluate-Adjust — each missing component has a distinct failure signature

Why This Is a Rule

Feedback loops break at one of four points, and each break produces a characteristic failure signature. Act missing: nothing happens despite plans. The loop never starts cycling. Signature: lots of plans, no execution. Observe missing: actions happen but nobody measures what resulted. Signature: "We're doing things but don't know if they're working." Evaluate missing: data is collected but never compared against standards. Signature: dashboards that nobody looks at, metrics without targets. Adjust missing: discrepancies are identified but nothing changes. Signature: the same problems appearing in consecutive reviews (Translate every discrepancy into a specific behavioral adjustment for the next cycle — awareness without adjustment is an incomplete loop).

Diagnosing which component is missing determines the fix. Adding observation to a loop that's missing adjustment wastes effort — you'll collect more data that nobody acts on. Adding adjustment to a loop that's missing observation doesn't work either — there's no data to base adjustments on. The diagnostic must precede the intervention.

This four-part model (similar to Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act but reframed for feedback loops) provides a complete troubleshooting checklist: verify each component exists and functions, and the first missing one is the fix target.

When This Fires

• When a system or practice isn't improving despite apparent effort
• When reviews keep identifying the same issues — the loop is broken somewhere
• When building new feedback loops — verify all four components before launching
• During systems audits when evaluating which loops are functional vs. decorative

Common Failure Mode

Adding more observation to an observe-heavy but adjust-light system: "We need better metrics!" when the actual problem is that existing metrics are already showing the discrepancy but nobody is changing behavior in response. The metrics aren't the bottleneck — the adjustment mechanism is. Diagnose before intervening.

The Protocol

(1) When a feedback loop isn't producing improvement, map it onto the four-part structure: Act: is the behavior being performed? If not → the loop never starts. Fix: address the activation barrier (Diagnose failing behavioral agents by component — trigger salience, condition scope, or action effort each require different fixes, Start every new agent at under two minutes with zero preparation — automaticity requires low activation energy first). Observe: is the output being measured? If not → the loop runs blind. Fix: add a sensor (A complete feedback loop needs three elements: measured output, comparison standard, and adjustment rule — define all three or the loop is broken — define measured output). Evaluate: is the measured output being compared against a standard? If not → the data exists but doesn't produce signal. Fix: define the standard and comparison protocol. Adjust: when discrepancies are found, does behavior change in the next cycle? If not → the loop is decorative. Fix: install specific adjustment rules (Translate every discrepancy into a specific behavioral adjustment for the next cycle — awareness without adjustment is an incomplete loop). (2) Fix the first missing component you find — don't improve components downstream of the break. (3) After fixing, verify: does the loop now complete a full cycle from Act through Adjust?