Inherent efficiency.
Systems are inherently efficient: the more efficient the better.
The relationship between “Innovation”, “Projects”, and “Systems” can be understood by placing them on a spectrum from left to right.
On the far left, extreme innovation is inefficient, notoriously resistant to scope and estimation — it is very difficult to force it to go faster. Adjacent-right, incremental innovation is somewhat more tractable, but still difficult to scope and force. Right-further, complex projects require advanced management techniques, complex Gantt charts, and intense co-ordination, but they yield to planning. Simple projects yield more easily and require less talent in execution and management. Inefficient systems require some ongoing maintenance, but keeping them going is fairly repetitive. Efficient systems just run.
Systems can become more efficient over time, but by definition, all systems are somewhat efficient. That is what makes them systems; their fundamental quality or attribute. The more efficient they become, the more system-like or systemic they become. The most system-system of all would be perfectly efficient.
