The inefficient operational cycle where a task, code branch, or document is repeatedly returned to an earlier stage for corrections due to errors, missed requirements, or shifting specs.

Slapped onto workflow diagrams by Agile coaches and productivity vendors to create anxiety around project iteration, framing client revisions as an enterprise disease.

• Process Inflation: Draping standard editing and bug-fixing rounds in intimidating manufacturing feedback cycle vocabulary.
• Blame Shielding: Blaming a "loop" in the system rather than addressing bad initial requirements or poor management direction.
• House-Cleaning Reality Check: Like vacuuming a rug, having someone walk over it with muddy boots, sweeping it again, and calling your morning a "rework loop."

The Martian (2010s) scene where NASA rushes the Iris supply rocket payload without proper testing, watching it explode post-launch, forcing them right back to square one on the drawing board.

Having to fix and redo completed work due to missing specs or errors.

“Automating contract reviews breaks the legacy rework loop across legal teams.”

“We finalized the software specs before writing code so our developers wouldn't get stuck redoing the app interface three times.”