Why do well-intentioned technologies often create unintended consequences? The answer lies in sociotechnical systems—the complex relationships between people, tools, and institutions that shape how systems actually behave.

Why do some systems last for generations while others quietly fall apart? In the opening preface to Build to Last, Ashley Karr introduces the Human-Scale Systems™ perspective and explores how the tools, organizations, and technologies we build slowly drift toward failure. Understanding why that drift happens is the first step toward designing systems—at home, at work, and in society—that actually endure.