FractalityTest

Mechanism

Before decentralising control or shortening decision cycles to collect an InformationDividend, ask whether the optimal shape is fractal: whether the best choice at the local scale (each room, each day, each region, each team) is the same as the best choice for the average of the whole. If a one-day forecast looks just like a shrunk ten-day forecast, or every room needs the same temperature as the house average, a single central shape loses nothing and granular control only adds cost. If local optima often differ from the average, there is a dividend from letting ShapeControl loosen locally. Fractality is also sometimes a requirement rather than a fact: uniform public services may be demanded for fairness. The test turns debates such as centralise versus delegate into the question of how far the problem is, or should be, fractal, and how cheaply local shape can change.