## Metadata - Author: [[mandy-brown|Mandy Brown]] - Full Title:: Accountability Sinks - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/accountability-sinks - Finished date:: [[2024-12-10]] ## Highlights > In *The Unaccountability Machine,* Dan Davies argues that organizations form “accountability sinks,” structures that absorb or obscure the consequences of a decision such that no one can be held directly accountable for it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jerz65k2387mg0tffze5daga)) > For an accountability sink to function, it has to break a link; it has to prevent the feedback of the person affected by the decision from affecting the operation of the system. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jerz6j6k1x7q2pymt27kgbza)) > It’s worth pausing for a moment to consider what we mean by “accountable.” Davies posits that: > > The fundamental law of accountability: the extent to which you are able to change a decision is precisely the extent to which you can be accountable for it, and vice versa. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jerz54qp6t3bbke0fqr3teq0)) > to be accountable for something you must have the power to change it *and* understand what you are trying to accomplish when you do. You need both the power *and* the story of how that power gets used. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jerz5tfx5k0bdkg8qebzby59))