sturing

Sturing is a term used in discussions of control and governance of complex systems to describe the process of guiding a system toward desired outcomes through ongoing, iterative adjustments in its behavior and structure, rather than a single corrective action. The concept draws on ideas from control theory and organizational governance, and its usage varies across fields. The term is often connected to the Dutch word sturing, meaning steering or direction, and has appeared in English-language discussions to emphasize continuous alignment with goals.

In practice, sturing involves monitoring system performance, eliciting preferences or goals from stakeholders, and applying small, frequent changes to policies, parameters, or workflows. It contrasts with static optimization or one-off fixes by emphasizing adaptivity and transparency of the decision process.

Applications of sturing can be found in autonomous systems, software governance, public administration, and business process management, where ongoing adjustments help accommodate changing environments or objectives.

Key methods include feedback control loops, model-based planning, preference elicitation, and governance experiments or pilot tests that reveal how changes influence outcomes. Sturing also overlaps with approaches in agile management and adaptive policy design.

Challenges include defining stable goals, avoiding misalignment or overfitting to noise, data quality and latency issues, explainability, and the risk that feedback loops produce unintended oscillations or incentives.

See also: control theory; feedback; adaptive systems; governance; human-in-the-loop.