Ventana software support forum

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> How many of us, working with a real client, would ever stop our interview when the client says they want to ""better manage the system""? I certainly never did. It begs questions such as: ""Why do ...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> I think Tom Fiddaman has helped clarify one of Alan's points -- namely, that what we often call ""stock and flow"" representations are also called ""state and rate"" representations, and ...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Fred Nickols writes, about the example (from http://www.systems-thinking.org/rca/rootca.htm) of the plant manager who finds oil on the floor, ""I'll wager that aficionados of root cause analysis (RCA) would indicate t...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Root cause analysis is a foundation of the process improvement methodologies (such as Six Sigma) in business. I am not speaking authoritatively here, but it seems to me that what happens in real life is that we stop looking for...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Monte writes [numbers added]: ""(1) If the real structure changes, the model of past behavior would lack the ability to generate the future behavior. (2) It is therefore hard believe that SD models are theories, unles...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Those of us who are not academics, and many who are (I suspect), don't have a lot of time to devote to responding on this mailing list. So a response to just two points Mr. Stevenson has raised: 1. That SD is not spreading Four...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Bill Braun writes: ""This is seemingly at odds with Jay's admonition of being problem focused."" -- and that, I think, gets us to part of the answer. What I've always railed against in organization design is...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Ralf, What management is held accountable for is decisions about ""policies"" -- which translate, in the model, to rate equations, for the most part. So, in your case, the two production goals are the respon...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Tom Cavin asks: Do you think Philip Zimbardo is correct in attributing 90% of our behavior to the situations we are in? Do you think Philip Zimbardo's arguments could be applied to the behavior of the four people he identifies ...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Just off the top of my head, if the stock in question is inventory in a manufacturing operation -- either work in process or finished goods -- you might need to know the age of the material for a couple of reasons: 1. To put a ...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> I, for one, am (a) tiring of this discussion, and (b) seeing more clearly why the original message suggested that we capitalize System Dynamics (in the appropriate contexts.) I find every other suggestion to be strained and not...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Rather than speak to models that may exist, I refer you to the well-known book by Thomas Kuhn, ""The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,"" for many suggestions about causal loops in the kind of process you'...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> While I have no strong opinion about whether we should capitalize system dynamics (System Dynamics), I feel obligated to point out one reason to do so. It has to do with marketing and, in particular, branding. Kimberly-Clark sp...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> I would like to echo the sentiments of Paul Holmström. I stopped attending most ""professional"" conferences just because they were filled with people who did nothing but shill for their products and service...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Jean-Jacques writes, ""To me very simply, business is about maximizing the net revenue from the capital invested and preferably maintaining at least this revenue above zero. Politics is about being elected. This makes...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Richard Stevenson writes, ""The use of better tools to support rational value management is, I suggest, now a significant new opportunity for SD."" I hope so, too. And I'm basing my current consulting effort...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Richard Stevenson says, ""But business isn't about politics, ultimately, and we should not confuse the two."" Having been in a boardroom (or two hundred plus) myself, with respect I say that is simply wrong....

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> Kim Warren's post (no, of course you didn't miss the point -- you nailed it directly to the wall as usual!) reminds me of a concern I had when I first saw an SD model. It stemmed from the following question: Is there only one f...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> I have had some success using the ""story telling"" feature built into the ithink (STELLA) software. This allows you to show a model one small piece at a time and build its logic in front of the audience. I ...

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> At the risk of leading with my chin, I must say that I am both in violent agreement and in violent disagreement with what Richard Stevenson and Alan McLucas write. VIOLENT AGREEMENT: To grow, our discipline must have discipline...