The observation
An interim process begins as a bridge and acquires users before anyone has agreed who maintains it. Its usefulness then becomes an argument against changing it. By the time a replacement is proposed, the bridge has a service owner, an annual cost and several people who remember it working better last year.
- 01Initial workaround
- 02Growing dependence
- 03Unfunded support
- 04Explicit decision
What follows
At Usual, the most durable interim arrangements are those that solve a genuine problem while remaining outside the planning assumptions. Recognizing them as real services can be an improvement. Continuing to call them temporary mainly reduces the precision of the inventory. The arrangement is renewed one ordinary workday at a time, which is why nobody can identify the date it became permanent.
