Question
How do I practice feedback loop hygiene?
Quick Answer
Pick one metric you currently use to judge your own progress — at work, in a personal project, or in a habit. Ask three questions: (1) What behavior does this metric actually reward? (2) Is that behavior still aligned with the outcome I care about? (3) If I were gaming this metric, what would I do.
The most direct way to practice feedback loop hygiene is through a focused exercise: Pick one metric you currently use to judge your own progress — at work, in a personal project, or in a habit. Ask three questions: (1) What behavior does this metric actually reward? (2) Is that behavior still aligned with the outcome I care about? (3) If I were gaming this metric, what would I do differently from what I'm doing now? If you can't distinguish your current behavior from gaming behavior, the loop needs maintenance.
Common pitfall: Treating metric review as a one-time setup task instead of a recurring discipline. You audit your feedback loops once, feel satisfied, then never revisit them. Meanwhile, your environment shifts, your goals evolve, and the metrics silently decouple from reality. The most dangerous feedback loops are the ones you stopped questioning six months ago.
This practice connects to Phase 24 (Feedback Loops) — building it as a repeatable habit compounds over time.
Learn more in these lessons