A system delay is elapsed time between a change and its information, decision, implementation, or outcome effect elsewhere in a system. Delays can cause decision-makers to act on outdated conditions.
In balancing feedback, long delays can produce repeated overcorrection, overshoot, and oscillation. Delayed harm can also make a policy appear successful during its early phase.
Example
Hiring decisions respond to backlog, but recruiting and training take months. If leaders keep ordering capacity before earlier hires arrive, the organization can overshoot demand and later repeat the cycle.
See Delays in Systems Thinking for diagnostic and design guidance.