QUERY Let Talk Buckets

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Anupam Saraph <anupamsaraph@g
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY Let Talk Buckets

Post by Anupam Saraph <anupamsaraph@g »

Posted by Anupam Saraph <anupamsaraph@gmail.com>

[Uknown Source:] ""Business Types Get a New Kick Out of the 'Bucket' -
Executives Utter the Word To Describe Groups,
Units; 'Silo' Pales in Comparison""

[Th]is hardly new for those who think in stocks and flows- We look at the stocks as buckets all the time.

Is it time to add taps and drains to the bucket vocabulary to help people make the connections to the dynamics of bucket filling up or emptying? Time to bring into colloquial vocabulary the notions that you can fill the bucket by opening taps or closing drains? Time to help people to ask what can open the taps or close the drains?

I am sure many of us have observed the ""aha"" from even school children who are explained the ""buckets"" of traffic in a city (roads), ""buckets"" of emotions (love, anger, etc.), ""buckets"" of people in the town (buckets of age-groups- or perhaps of different skills and professions) or even global warming (""buckets"" of gasses in the atmosphere)...

And those of us who have facilitated reengineering recognize that it results in new ""buckets"" or reducing old ones as much as it creates new ""policies"" (as defined in Forrester-speak) for regulating the volume of ""stuff"" in the ""buckets"".

Currently are we losing out by having people use jargon that means too many different intangible things to different disciplines, methods and to the world? Right from the word system, policy or
feedback- different disciplines have different meanings for all of these, the idea is lost while the word remains.

It's sooo hard for most people to think of some invisible forces to drive changes in variables they may not even accept as being
important- We all love to ""see"" and ""feel"" the world. Is it time to leverage our physical understanding of the ""bucket"" to get the world thinking ""systems""? Even help them see a ""system"" as collection of connected buckets?

Anupam
Clinical Professor,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Posted by Anupam Saraph <anupamsaraph@gmail.com>
posting date Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:41:29 -0400
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j-d <jaideep@optimlator.com&g
Junior Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY Let Talk Buckets

Post by j-d <jaideep@optimlator.com&g »

Posted by j-d <jaideep@optimlator.com>

Not a bad idea at all!! However I thought some SD people (Barry Richmond of Stella, e.g.) were already very good at this kind of explanation and descriptions (so much so that reading the Stella manual was a real well-meant advice for people trying to get into SD).

This also reminds me of the pedagogic approach used in introducing vectors based on simple directional forces, movements and so; or the transition to abstract linear algebra from ""easily-understanded"" three-dimensional geometries. Anything to make people understand and manage complexity should be recommended though after a while one just can't ignore abstract thought, for businesses or in academia. Simple otherwise becomes too simplistic, which is counter-productive.

Best regards

Jaideep
Posted by j-d <jaideep@optimlator.com>
posting date Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:14:48 -0500 _______________________________________________
wakeland@pdx.edu <wakeland@pd
Junior Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY Let Talk Buckets

Post by wakeland@pdx.edu <wakeland@pd »

Posted by wakeland@pdx.edu <wakeland@pdx.edu>

The word bucket is a fine synonym for the word stock in the SD context, but since the terms stock and flow are well established and intuitive, I believe they should remain the primary descriptors.

Some people use the word storage (also good), others use state variable (good for some audiences) or reservior (ditto). I'd suggest adding the word bucket to the list of good synonyms for the word stock. I'm sure there are many more for various specific contexts.

Wayne Wakeland
Systems Science Program
Portland State University
Posted by wakeland@pdx.edu
posting date Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:17:04 -0700 _______________________________________________
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