Ideality is an optimal state of a system. Every system moves towards ideality, this optimal. Consider any system, the system has components and each of those components have certain functions. All the components with their corresponding functions help the system achieve its objective.

Lets take an example of a razor used for shaving. The razor has the following components, an handle, a blade holder with one or more blades, a roller to reduce the stiffness etc. Each of these components has a function it needs to perform to achieve the objective of a perfect shave without side effects (cuts or discomfort while shaving).

In terms of a simple relation,

Any system which has an infinite ideality is a perfect system. In reality there are no perfect systems, but more closer a system is to ideality the more perfect it becomes.

How to apply in in Practice?

By asking what is the ideal final state for the current system. Every time I review an idea, I determine what is the ideal final state for that idea. This opens up the conversation for opportunities to improve on the idea. I would use a table such as below to capture this. I call this an ideality matrix.

So while blade holder is a necessary component, it might bring down the ideality. If you plan to improve the design of the razor, this might be a good place to start to figure out how to reduce these harmful effects. There are further caveats however, for example some harmful effects may be necessary and cannot be eliminated OR removing the harmful effects might cause greater problems.

Thus a simple tool like ideality in conjunction with system thinking can help break down complex problems and identify root causes.

May 7th 2025