Systems
Graceful Degradation
The ability of a system to continue functioning at reduced capacity when components fail, rather than failing completely. Performance degrades proportionally to damage.
Biological Context
Brain function degrades gracefully with neuron loss—small damage causes small deficits. Ecosystems losing species often maintain function through compensation by remaining species. Graceful degradation contrasts with brittle systems that fail catastrophically when any component fails.
Business Application
Well-designed organizations degrade gracefully: losing one salesperson reduces revenue proportionally, not catastrophically. Brittle organizations collapse when any critical component fails.