---
slug: "Laterality"
name: "Laterality"
type: "Coordination"
layer: "Society"
ref: "Laterality#f864"
sema_id: "sema:Laterality#mh:SHA-256:f864c6713f7a81a2b9df3c13674ca1c30f592728f0a389d5e0cc45212b948c7b"
tags: ["Society","Coordination"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "origin-of-risk"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/Laterality/
related: ["FractionalDelivery","LowLateralityExit","ManyWaysReliability","OrganisationGame","OrgChartBias","PeripheralHitchhiking","ResourceShapeSeparation"]
---

# Laterality

The number of functional units that must coordinate for an action to happen; the more units, the less likely it happens

Layer: Society · Category: Coordination

## Mechanism

For any action an organisation must perform, count the functional units (people, teams, departments, cells, genes) that have to coordinate to achieve it: unilateral (one), bilateral (two), trilateral and upward. Each extra unit is another party whose availability, communication and agreement are needed, so the odds that the action happens easily fall like rolling a double six instead of a seven: there are fewer ways for everything to line up. A well-designed organisation is one in which the bulk of required actions are unilateral, most of the rest bilateral, and so on, and in which units that must coordinate are already closely related. Laterality also applies to changes of strategy: the number of agents that must change strategy when the situation changes.

## Invariants

- The probability that an action happens easily falls as laterality rises
- Coordinating between closely related units is easier than between distant units at the same laterality
- Laterality applies to changes of strategy as well as to actions

## Failure modes

- Designing a plan that silently depends on many units being available at fixed times (high laterality disguised as a schedule)
- Creating a dedicated team for one priority, which raises laterality for every other task
- Leaving no low-laterality way to stop an action, so failing work continues

## Builds on

—

## Used by

- [FractionalDelivery](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/FractionalDelivery.md) (Society; References)
- [LowLateralityExit](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/LowLateralityExit.md) (Society; References)
- [ManyWaysReliability](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/ManyWaysReliability.md) (Society; References)
- [OrganisationGame](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/OrganisationGame.md) (Society; References)
- [OrgChartBias](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/OrgChartBias.md) (Society; References)
- [PeripheralHitchhiking](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/PeripheralHitchhiking.md) (Society; References)
- [ResourceShapeSeparation](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/ResourceShapeSeparation.md) (Society; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Laterality#mh:SHA-256:f864c6713f7a81a2b9df3c13674ca1c30f592728f0a389d5e0cc45212b948c7b`
- Ref: `Laterality#f864`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/Laterality/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/#Laterality)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/Laterality.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.pages.dev/origin-of-risk/index.json)