Book 4: Afterword: Of Systems and Bad Actors

"Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets."

— W. Edwards Deming, Don Berwick, and/or Dr. Paul Batalden

The first time I heard this quote, it was less a call for systematic improvement and more of a high-minded dismissal of my concerns. I worry that you might find me using it here in the same way, given how this volume ended.

I do, however, want to reflect on what the statement means to me when I'm not reeling from its first hit. Most problems aren’t mysterious. Many are the natural, inevitable outcomes of the structures and processes we’ve built or inherited. A system left unattended doesn’t get better over time. It can only become more set in its ways.

So, if you’re feeling betrayed by the ending here, you’re not alone. Some characters we encounter in life are very skilled at appearing to grow, at saying the right things, and masking their intentions just long enough to keep the system working in their favor. The BBEG in this volume is an exaggeration of a bad actor, so if you saw all the red flags from the beginning, remember that there are even craftier BBEGs out there. Bad actors don’t announce themselves with a villainous monologue; they adapt, hiding and thriving in the cracks of a system that didn’t have the safeguards to catch them.

All for Naught is Rae learning this less-than-fictional reality.

She finds a system maintained by a machine that was never meant to be self-sustaining, being only partially overseen by someone whose “guidance” is shaped more by fear and self-preservation than any divine wisdom or ethical framework. When bad actors are placed in charge of a system, the system bends to their benefit, producing unfair, harmful, and senseless results for those who are ultimately its subjects.

A word of caution: Bad actors seldom break a system alone. Good intentions, like Rae’s, aren’t enough to combat the damage, either. Systems need guardrails and failsafes. Power needs accountability. It’s not enough to hope that the person in charge is the right one to make the decisions; systems need to be built so that doing the right thing is the easiest, most default option.

Rae never wanted to return to the world that failed her, but I think she wants to build something better now. Fixing a mess doesn’t make things right, but redesigning something so the same mess can’t happen again can take you a greater step closer.

There’s one more volume of Rae’s adventure left to write. Thank you for walking the path this far. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, I assure you.