When a system is working, changes should be implemented slowly. Humans often make assumptions about the causes behind outcomes, and in some cases entirely overlook the key processes that are generated the initial results. Rather than improving the overall system, the changes may yield negative results, and do so without providing any meaningful data.

This is a common issue with clients seek to make website changes. Rather than implementing changes slowly, clients seek to make drastic changes to improve conversion rates by some triple digital percentage number. It's not realistic and tends to leave the website in a worse place than prior to beginning the site redesign.

Another approach is to implement changes slowly, with an acknowledgement that the current system is implicitly what is generating the current results. Any change, particularly to volatile inputs, has potential to effect the final results in a positive or negative manner. If the changes are implemented in an isolated manner, it's easy to identify the changes and know the effect.

It takes patience and time to implement changes to a system that is producing good results, especially when the outcomes are vital and the inputs are volatile. If the starting point is bad, there's little risk in making drastic changes because it can hardly have a negative effect. That's not the case when the results are good and it's a valuable concept to keep in mind, whether dealing with a website or a virus.