"A system optimized for one outcome will sacrifice others without noticing.
Notice the word sacrifice. In a performance fix that adds coupling, it pulls the quote out of inspiration and into mechanism: what repeats is what the system allows. That is why intent is never enough.
In a performance fix that adds coupling, the phrase can feel abstract until the system bites. It shows up as a cache added for speed that quietly changes correctness semantics, where local logic produces global trouble. If the exception path is informal, it becomes politics; write the signal that makes an exception legitimate and who can approve it.
John Sterman is a reminder to keep it concrete. Name the tradeoff in plain language: the win you want and the cost you accept. Let the boundary do the work.