Adding complexity over time

Week three: add a ‘customer’ – another class or a teacher – who can request tickets. Week five: introduce a budget of 100 fake dollars per team that they must spend on supplies. Week seven: add quality assurance – random ticket audits with consequences for poor quality.

Why it matters: Complexity is addictive. Teachers who add too much too fast watch the system collapse. A teacher added a budget, three new roles, and a digital board all in one week; by Friday, nothing worked. She rolled back to the minimum and added only the budget the following week – and it succeeded.

Real-world context: Toyota’s production system adds one improvement per month. Not one per day. Your classroom should follow the same rule.