Atwood's Duck is a design strategy where a deliberately flawed or unnecessary element is added to a project so that a manager compelled to make changes will criticize and remove only that element, leaving the rest of the work untouched. The term, popularized by Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood, originated from a Battle Chess animator who added a duck to queen animations knowing the producer would request its removal. The concept reflects organizational dysfunction and power dynamics between managers seeking to assert value and creators protecting their work.