Heroics Are Usually a Design Problem

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I used to be more impressed by heroic effort.

The late-night push. The last-minute save. The frantic deck rescue. The spreadsheet that emerges from the ashes wearing a tiny cape.

Now I mostly see heroics as a signal: a broken system relying on the goodwill of one person — or their insecurities — to keep functioning.

Sometimes heroics are necessary. Workloads can fluctuate wildly.

But that is also a lazy acceptance.

Cadence on Christa Burger