Look for
Physical geometry
Does material or spatial structure channel behavior into some responses while excluding others?
One way alignment happens
Constraints and possibility spaces
Can alignment be produced by changing which actions are easy, difficult, valid, or possible at all?
Systems do not have to coordinate only by changing what their parts want. Physical form, boundaries, permissions, interfaces, and state-transition rules can reshape the space in which behavior occurs.
Try seeing it
Change the landscape rather than persuading the traveler.
A lane constrains where a vehicle normally travels. A software interface can make some state transitions valid and others impossible. Physical geometry can channel forces into a stable structure.
In each case, alignment is partly embodied in the set of available trajectories rather than in agreement or internal motivation.
Look for
Boundaries and permissions
Which resources, actions, places, or communication channels can each component access?
Look for
Valid transitions
Are there rules or interfaces that determine which moves can follow which previous states?
Mechanism caution
Restricting failure can also restrict competence.
Constraints can prevent harmful or incompatible behavior, but too much constraint can remove useful variation, autonomy, adaptability, and routes for responding to situations the designer did not anticipate.
Bad boundaries can fail in either direction: isolating competence that should interact or allowing spillovers that should have been contained.
A useful perturbation