From the beekeeper’s point of view, the modern hive is an orderly, “legible” hive allowing the beekeeper to inspect the condition of the colony and the queen, judge its honey production (by weight), enlarge or contract the size of the hive by standard units, move it to a new location, and, above all, extract just enough honey (in tem perate climates) to ensure that the colony will overwinter successfully.
~ James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State
Mapping a system - steps along the way
The system is entirely unmapped. No one person understand how it works. Every action or change revquires a chaotic scramble of unknown length.
A small number of trusted experts can explain the system, or guide changes to it. Interfaces between this system and others require a lot of cross-expert coordination. Its input and output are only measurable in local units.
The system is describable and understandable by non-experts outside the community. ITs input and output are measured in externally valid units.