IAQ LEXICON
This Is Not A Dictionary.
The IAQ Lexicon is a living map of ideas discovered inside questions.
Every IAQ article can introduce a new concept, reveal a hidden mechanism, or give a name to a pattern that did not have one before. When an idea becomes strong enough, it may enter the Lexicon.
But not every candidate appears here. There are far more Lexicon candidates living inside IAQ articles than the concepts currently published on this page. The Lexicon grows selectively, as ideas connect, deepen, and begin to form families of their own.
What Do The Levels Mean?
A higher level does not mean “better.” It means deeper in the conceptual chain.
The article feeds the Lexicon.
The Lexicon connects the articles.
Sometimes one question creates a word that helps us ask the next question differently.
Not all words are written. Some are discovered.
IAQ Lexicon
Defensive Friction
The delay survives because it protects a future explanation.
Friction preserved within a process because following it protects participants from blame, scrutiny, or personal exposure even when the step no longer improves the result. Defensive Friction turns approvals, copied messages, forms, and meetings into institutional armor.
Examples
- keeping approvals that almost never change a decision
- copying large groups to prove they were informed
- retaining duplicate records for defensive evidence
- holding meetings mainly to distribute responsibility
- following obsolete steps because deviation is easier to blame
Related Concepts
First Appeared In
Why Do People Continue Inefficient Procedures That Everyone Dislikes?
Origin
Developed through the IAQ Work, Status, and Invisible Labor series to distinguish operationally useless friction from friction that remains politically or defensively useful.