Definition
The state in which a system has absorbed enough of an institution's capability, staff, and decision paths that the institution can no longer meaningfully evaluate, constrain, or replace it. Capture is not vendor lock-in alone; it includes losing the internal expertise needed to judge the system's output.
It matters because a captured institution still runs its governance rituals and can no longer act on them. Capture is the terminal form of normalized dependence, and it is the reason preserved capacity is protected long before it is needed.
PatternsStructural
Tests that show it is in place
- The institution can name who would evaluate the system's output if the vendor disappeared.
- Independent records exist that do not pass through the system being governed.
- Governance decisions about the system are made by people who do not depend on it for their work.
Evidence to keep
- Artifact: A capture assessment naming retained evaluative expertise and independent records.
- Behavior: A governance body overruling the system's recommendation using independent evidence.
- Metric: Count of retained internal experts able to evaluate output, trended.
References
- Automation and capture · Theory