Ventana software support forum

Michael Nugent writes: >Most "whole systems" work Ive seen operates within organizational >boundaries, treating it as if it were a closed system. Id like to suggest, Michael, that you must be observing in the wrong places! In the seminal work of Marvin Weisbord, as well as in my own consul...

I have adopted, over many years of struggling to be clear in my writing and speaking, the precept that if a word or phrase begins to be used in a way that makes it essentially useless I try to get people to agree to change its definition/usage. I sense that the time has come to do this with "wh...

Jay Forrest writes: <The result of "reverse modeling" would be models that are black box and >lack understanding. Perhaps Jay and I understand something different in Gerhard Werners question. I believe that many years ago, in the early 1960s, my fathers process engineering group at Dow Che...

Tom,

As a somewhat squeamish onlooker I would certainly hope that the cows got
pregnant discreetly.

Oh, you wrote "discretely"? Sorry.

From: "John W. Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>

I am continually impressed, as I read and reread Jay Forresters seminal works in our field, by how frequently he was able to anticipate developments and issues forty years before they arose. To not only create a new field but to bolster it against its self-destruction is the work of genius. One issu...

Bill, Having been where you are (small business owner, etc.) I would add one resource to what others are suggesting: Go to the Web site for the MIT System Dynamics In Education Project (http://sysdyn.mit.edu/) and download the Road Maps series (1 through 9 so far.) Work through them religiously, as ...

Upon further reflection, I want to endorse one idea Thomas Higgins seems to be presenting. I agree that getting client "ownership" is an obligation we have -- its our responsibility to see that it happens. It is not the clients responsibility nor, therefore, an excuse we trot out to defend...

Since Mr. Higgins seems to be having some fun with my use of the word "ownership" I feel compelled to respond. Yes, "ownership" in this context is being used not in the sense of ownership of real property but in a somewhat metaphorical sense -- albeit one in ordinary usage. The o...

I guess this is my third cent: In 15+ years of helping organizations change I have discovered a couple of things that seem always to be true: 1. It is middle managers who kill the change. And it makes sense that it should be so. Change of anything substantial in an organization includes changes in p...

I want to throw in my two cents about what it means to "get the client involved." In my 15+ years of strategic consulting, one of my more interesting clients was one of the top three consulting firms in the world. They, apparently not unlike all of the Big 5 (it was Big 8 then), have a hor...