# The Fire Alarm vs Smoke Detector (Analogy) Fire alarms go off when the situation is already serious. Smoke detectors go off when the situation is still small and fixable. In teams: - **Fire alarm culture** - escalation only when things are burning - incidents as surprises - heroics and blame cycles - learning happens late - **Smoke detector culture** - early surfacing is normal - weak signals are treated as valuable data - small fixes prevent big failures - learning happens continuously This is why **amplification** matters. ## Quick prompt Ask in a retro or leadership check-in: - “What are our smoke detector signals right now?” - “What did we notice early but ignore?” - “What keeps people from raising weak signals?” Then run: [[Smoke Detector Signals (15 min)]] ## References - MIT Sloan excerpt on wiring organizations and early problem-solving: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/how-to-wire-your-organization-to-excel-problem-solving ## See Also - [[Leadership Levers - Amplification]] - [[07_Tools/Andon Cord for Knowledge Work (10 min)]] - [[Danger Zone vs Winning Zone]]