Definition
The point at which an institution's failure becomes somebody's personal problem. On one side the institution handles the consequence of its own complexity; on the other the person does. Moving the line toward the person makes them compensate more. Moving it toward the institution makes the institution absorb the complexity it creates.
The line is a design decision. A form that asks for documents the institution already holds, an appeal deadline, an eligibility rule that presumes ineligibility, and a support channel that closes at five all place it. It can be stated, reviewed and moved, and an institution that has not stated it has still chosen it. See Where difficulty lives.
DiagnosticStructural
Tests that show it is in place
- The institution states, for each consequential process, which failures it handles and which it leaves to the person.
- Each placement names who decided it and when it was last reviewed.
- A change to the line is recorded with the burden it moves and to whom.
Evidence to keep
- Artifact: A statement of the responsibility line for each consequential process.
- Behavior: A failure the institution could have handled that was returned to the person.
- Metric: Share of recurring failure types handled by the institution rather than the person.
References
- Where difficulty lives · Theory