Capacity Trap is a reinforcing pattern in which performance pressure consumes the time and resources needed to maintain or expand capability, causing further deterioration.
In systems analysis, the term is useful when it clarifies a mechanism, accumulation, constraint, or governance choice rather than serving as a vague label.
Read The Capacity Trap: Why Overloaded Teams Lose the Ability to Improve and Managing Backlogs as Stocks: A Better Alternative to Permanent Urgency.