Introduction A racecar driver desperately wants to win this race. He has his foot near, but not yet on, the floor, but his car is only going as fast as his nearest competition. Although his tachometer is right on the redline, the driver thinks that if he pushes the car just a little more, he … Continue reading Faster is Slower
Cure Worse Than Disease
Introduction When learning about systems, one should never forget that a person always represents an element of a system. To point out a universal example, remember that the universe (pun intended) consists of a system from which we can never escape. Don’t worry, however, although the small structural changes we make will not affect the … Continue reading Cure Worse Than Disease
The Easy Way Out
Introduction We humans, suffer the same weaknesses as other creatures: we have a strong will to survive. We really don’t have a high capacity for creativity. If we find a way out of one problem, we tend to try the same solution when we encounter a problem that looks similar to one that we encountered … Continue reading The Easy Way Out
Systemic Behavior Grows Better
Introduction Have you ever heard of someone coming down with a severe headache, taking a large dose of headache medicine, and feeling just fine in a couple of hours? The next day, the same thing occurs. The person checks into the hospital several weeks later to find out they have brain cancer. Four days later, … Continue reading Systemic Behavior Grows Better
The System Pushes Back
Introduction While in college, I had an American history professor who said that when a bully pushed a kid into a corner and kept pushing him, the kid would eventually push back (he phrased it a bit more crudely, but adults might read this article). You might have guessed that he told this story to … Continue reading The System Pushes Back
Yesterday’s Solutions
Introduction Systems have “feedbacks,” or a transfer of information, that we frequently do not recognize when they occur. For example, when you flip a lightswitch the light comes on. That gives us information that the switch, the electricity, and the light bulb are all working. When we fill a bathtub, we see the water level … Continue reading Yesterday’s Solutions
Systems Theories
A better approach than analytic thinking. Introduction While serving in the Army in South Korea during the mid-1960s, I operated a petroleum tank farm. As with most equipment in Korea at the time, those tanks were in pretty shoddy condition. One day, the sergeant who ran the petroleum operation reported to me that one of … Continue reading Systems Theories
Preliminary Introduction to Systems Thinking
My Return to Publishing I apologize to my regular readers for my extended absence. I have had a lot of accidents and mishaps over the last several weeks that have prevented me from writing regularly. The clincher, however, was that my computer crashed. I won’t go into much detail, but it was bad enough that … Continue reading Preliminary Introduction to Systems Thinking
Levels of Understanding Systems
We can understand the performance of systems at three basic levels. The three levels at which we can understand the performance of systems consist of Events, Patterns of Behavior, and Systemic Structure. Working from the bottom up, each level provides more knowledge about what influences the system's behavior. This diagram shows the direction of influence—most … Continue reading Levels of Understanding Systems
Graphic Comparisons
Statistical charts provide one of the most effective tools for conveying information (and misinformation) When a commentator presents a graph as "proof" of their argument, view it with great care. Graphics can help describe patterns of behavior and provide evident of structural connections, but they never prove anything. Scientists must continually subject theoretical "proofs" to … Continue reading Graphic Comparisons