ideas: Promise Theory

The promise of Promise Theory: The O'Reilly Radar Podcast - O'Reilly Radar:
"Promise theory is ... to analyze distributed systems" (vs. top-down control)

In the second segment, Geoffrey Moore talks about the technology adoption lifecycle and outlines a modern approach to his Crossing the Chasm theory.

Promise theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Promise theory is a model of voluntary cooperation between individual, autonomous actors or agents who publish their intentions to one another in the form of promises.
A promise is a declaration of intent whose purpose is to increase the recipient's certainty about a claim of past, present or future behavior."