Becoming an Observer in Human Systems
Why effective post-mortems and incident management fail under pressure—and how regulation, not authority or process, restores coherence under load by slowing time, holding silence, and making language a deliberate intervention.
Observation:
I feel fear writing this.
..
I'm sitting in a local café.
I chose to be in an active space.
I'm gonna write about regulation.
Wish me luck.
Regulation Slows Time, Literally
Observer:
Actor embedded in a system.
Actively integrating and
sufficiently regulated to
maintain agency.
Human systems.
Beautifully complex.
Oddly predictable.
(When you slow down.)
..
First:
Inhale.. 1, 2, 3.
Exhale.. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
(Exhale longer than inhale.)
Maybe your body is calmer now.
Maybe your perception widened.
Maybe you're noticing a detail around you.
(The coffee burned my tongue.)
Holding a Room
Half the tables are filled.
Coffee and conversations.
One person is eating a sandwich.
They seem in a hurry.
No intervention necessary.
The room maintains coherence.
(Noise-cancelling headphones. 💜]
Observation:
Someone just sat down.
Shuffling through lots of papers.
Interpretation:
These look like presentation slides.
Lots of text on those.
And also images.
Hypothesis:
Maybe a student?
Falsify:
Ask.
..
Nah.
Regulation as Infrastructure
Regulation is a stock.
Regulation is a function.
Regulated presence an embodied implementation.
Let's pause.
..
Sound of Silence:
- Stay at rest for 30 seconds (maybe close your eyes).
- Hold.
- Observe.
- Choose.
This is a structure.
Try it alone.
Try it with your team.
Try it with your kids.
Observe what happens.
Maybe write it down.
(Writing improves integration.)
Once You See It
Let's orient:
- Human systems behave in non-linear ways.
- Regulation slows perception of time.
- Unregulated systems fragment.
- Language is load-bearing.
Phew.
..
Better choose my actions carefully, eh?
(Nervous laugh.)
Maintaining coherence under load,
means choosing silence,
when no regulating action is available.