Application leaders have struggled to achieve meaningful outcomes from application rationalization efforts as they do not have the authority to standardize business processes. The state they are in has parallels to the very well-studied economic dilemma. Studying the tragedy of the commons can help them solve their resource allocation problems.

The Tragedy of the Commons

In 1833, an English economist William Forester Lloyd published a pamphlet which included a hypothetical example of the over-use of common resource. This was the situation of cattle herders sharing a common parcel of land on which they were each entitled to let their cows graze, as was the custom in English villages. He postulated that if a herder put more than his allotted number of cattle on the common, overgrazing could result. For each additional animal, that particular herder could receive additional benefits, but the whole group would share the damage. If all herders made this individually rational economic decision, the common could be depleted or even destroyed, to the detriment of all.

In 1968, ecologist Garett Hardin explored this social dilemma. He discussed that this problem cannot be solved by technical means. He focused on human population growth, the use of Earth’s natural resources, and welfare state. Some of the examples are:

• Spam email, they degrade the usefulness of the email system and increase the cost for all users of the internet while providing a benefit to only a tiny number of individuals.
• Vandalism and littering in public spaces such as parks, recreation areas and public restrooms.
• Knowledge commons encompass immaterial and collectively owned goods in the information age. This includes source code and software documentation in software products that may get corrupted with messy code or inaccurate information.

Solution

Milton Friedman and Elinor Ostrom are two scholars who were in opposition to the tragedy of commons by Garrett Hardin. Ostrom has documented how various communities manage common resources, such as irrigation water and fisheries, equitably and sustainably over a long term. Milton Friedman advocated for unrestricted markets where there is freedom for the common people. Ostrom’s approach is widely accepted to work better as it makes every person responsible of the outcome of their deeds. If privatization continues, the common people tend to rebel against the authority and will continually oppose and feel degraded.

A similar scenario is observed in business and application management where there are limited resources and many users. Business leaders would be more inclined to support decisions that consider the common resource of application support, maintenance and integration when they would understand the common problem. If they can participate in making and changing the rules that manage a constrained resource, the problems arising would be solved.