Drift into failure

the long version

"What does the collapse of sub-prime lending have in common with a broken jackscrew in an airliner’s tailplane? Or the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico with the burn-up of Space Shuttle Columbia? These were systems that drifted into failure. While pursuing success in a dynamic, complex environment with limited resources and multiple goal conflicts, a succession of small, everyday decisions eventually produced breakdowns on a massive scale." ([More from publisher][1]) [1]: http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=3018&sort=pubdate&forthcoming=1&title_id=10915&edition_id=14042