Goodhart's law says that when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure — people optimise the number instead of the thing it was meant to track. Examples:
What is goodhart's law? Read the full idea →Grade schools on test scores and they drill the test — scores rise while real learning doesn't.
Reward the number of sales calls and reps make many short, useless calls just to hit the count.
Pay developers by lines written and you get bloated, padded code instead of good software.
Hard targets on hospital wait times can get gamed (holding patients elsewhere) rather than producing faster care.
Chase likes or sign-ups as the goal and people optimise for cheap likes and empty sign-ups, not real value.
That's just how memory works. Lock goodhart's law in with a 5-minute active-recall session — spaced repetition, no signup.
Try this idea free →One tap adds it to your review queue — we bring it back right before you'd forget.