Glossary entry

Workaround Presumption

Glossary entry in Failure modes (why Ethotechnics exists). Definitions, checks, and evidence for Workaround Presumption.

Quick takeaways

The rule that a recurring workaround raises a presumption of upstream design failure.

Definition

The rule that a recurring workaround raises a presumption of upstream design failure. Where people repeatedly improvise around a system — unofficial spreadsheets, manual overrides, elaborate user guides, a famous fixer of impossible cases — the first reading is not that adaptable humans are handling edge cases but that the formal system does not fit the world it operates in.

It matters because organizations usually read workarounds in the opposite direction, as resilience, and scale the system on the strength of the labor that is compensating for it. The presumption is not proof; it must be rebutted by showing the workaround is a product of preference rather than compensation. Where the absorbed share is large, the people absorbing are performing the institution's safety function, which strengthens the case for corrective standing.

DiagnosticStructural

Scale: Organizational · Phases: Deployment, Audit · Measurability: Semi-quantitative · Maturity: Core concept

Scope
B. Failure modes (why Ethotechnics exists). Common patterns where responsibility dissolves and harm accelerates.
Genealogy
Converts the absorption mechanism into a diagnostic rule: repeated adaptation is rigidity subsidized by flexibility.

Adjacent terms

Exception Absorption Heroism-Dependent Systems Residual Complexity Corrective Standing

Related concepts

Also tagged: Diagnostic

Moral Latency Accountability Diffusion Extraction Extraction by Endurance Drift (System Drift) Externalization

Also tagged: Structural

Ethotechnics Moral Behavior (of Systems) Ethical Load Path Ethotechnic Audit Conviviality Ethotechnic Maturity

References

Copy citation (APA/BibTeX)

Cite this glossary entry Formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS

Version

v1.4.0

Last updated

Sep 18, 2026

DOI

Pending Zenodo deposit

APA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. (2026). Workaround Presumption. Ethotechnics glossary. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/workaround-presumption

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Workaround Presumption." Ethotechnics glossary, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/workaround-presumption.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Workaround Presumption." Ethotechnics glossary. Sep 18, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/workaround-presumption.

BibTeX

@misc{glossary_workaround-presumption,
  title={Workaround Presumption},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute Research Team},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics glossary},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/workaround-presumption},
  version={v1.4.0}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Workaround Presumption
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute Research Team
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/workaround-presumption
ER  -

Scholarly metadata

Authorship

Contact: research@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

  • Published: Dec 3, 2025
  • Last updated: Sep 18, 2026
  • Version: v1.4.0
  • DOI: Pending Zenodo deposit

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the term title + version, and link to the glossary permalink.

Archive: Wayback Machine history

Changelog

  • v1.7.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Non-Finality, Consequential Contradiction, and The Excluded Case, and generalized the falsified denominator into the falsified ledger — completing the five concerns and the fallibilist ground they stand on.
  • v1.6.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Human Non-Substitutability, Safe Incompleteness, Anti-Conversion Rights, Abstention, Constitutional Debt, Discretion Migration, and Corrigibility Rent — the person-side principles, the three abstentions, and the rent concept.
  • v1.5.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Exception Absorption, Exception Learning, Case Corrigibility, Structural Corrigibility, Institutional Learning, Corrective Debt, and the Workaround Presumption, formalizing the historical turn: reading institutions through their failure trajectories rather than their stated controls.
  • v1.4.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Residual Complexity, Complexity Displacement, Falsified Denominator, Closure Without Remainder, Constitutional Governance, and Post-Optimization Rigor, embedding the foundational contention of burden redistribution.
  • v1.3.0 · 2026-09-11 — Added Attestation, Liability Record, Carve-Out, Delegation Chain, Composed Latency, and Silent-Harm Discovery, each bound to the standard clause that requires it.
  • v1.2.0 · 2026-09-08 — Added The Non-Conversion Principle, Exit Cost, and Jurisdictional Path Dependence, each linked to the theory essay that argues for it.
  • v1.1.0 · 2026-01-09 — Expanded scholarly metadata, operational tests, and provenance notes.
  • v1.0.0 · 2025-12-03 — Initial glossary release with stable permalinks.