(noun) The theory that systems naturally evolve to perform the same function through multiple independent mechanisms.
The company maintained three separate customer databases across departments, each serving identical purposes but requiring distinct maintenance procedures.
(noun) The tendency of systems to resist changes imposed upon them, returning to their original state when external pressure is removed.
When the engineering team tried to implement daily standups, the organization gradually reverted to its previous informal communication patterns within a few months.
(noun) The theory that a system designed to fail safely will fail by failing to fail safely.
The payment system was timing out, so systems began to retry failed transactions, compounding the original system overload.