The Fixes That Fail archetype explains why solutions to complex problems often create new problems or worsen the original one over time. Learn its structure, examples, and how to design more durable solutions.

The Shifting the Burden archetype explains how symptomatic solutions gradually undermine the ability to address root causes. Learn its structure and how to escape the quick-fix trap.

The Limits to Growth archetype explains why every reinforcing loop eventually meets a constraint. Learn its structure, examples, and how to respond before the slowdown becomes a crisis.

Reinforcing loops amplify change while balancing loops resist it. Together, they are the two fundamental structures driving behavior in every system. Learn to read them and use them.

The Tragedy of the Commons is a systems archetype describing how shared resources get depleted when individual incentives override collective wellbeing. Learn its structure and how to interrupt it.