QUERY Getting a Good Problem Statement (SD6528)
Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:30 pm
Posted by Jean-Jacques Laublé <jean-jacques.lauble@wanadoo.fr>
Referencing the ""Information display challenge (SD6520) I do not think that there is much to add to Joel Rahn remark about two
difficulties: first finding the critical information and then displaying it except that it is very annoying that there are two of them, but if we can solve the first difficulty, maybe the second will be straightforward.
But, one of my concern is not about how I represent a CLD.
I use generally a stock and flow diagram with causal tracing and loops but can start with a simple CLD without stocks. But before making a CLD or SFD one must know what to put in it.
And to do that one must get closer to the customer problem, preferably written in plain English, which eases the communication and that is to my opinion the best tool to express anything. Just try to translate a Shakespeare drama into a CLD!
I tried to use cognitive mapping techniques like Decision Explorer but I prefer a good text explanation.
The point is that the way the problem will be formulated in plain English is critical for the rest of the study, and I should say that once that first step is accomplished, everything else is a simple matter of technique and that the quality of the modelling effort will mainly depend on that first step.
So the question is what should be done in that first step to make the translation easier to the second step and the next ones?
To resume what kind of style, presentation, order, way to verify the completeness, coherence, etc... is to be respected?
Another question near the problem of the customer too. I ask this question to modellers with a lot of experience. When a problem is exposed one can opt for two solutions. Of course one can opt for an intermediate solution, but I expose these two because they are extreme. The first one is to find right away an optimised solution that solves definitely the problem at hand, trying to model the reality concerned. The second one is to start from a solution already existing and try to improve it step by step, looking more at past experiences and building on future experiences to be done, to solve the problem. Knowing that people will say that it depends on the type of problem, the question is: In general, is the solution nearer to the first extreme or to the second one.
Regards.
Jean-Jacques Laublé Eurli Allocar.
Posted by Jean-Jacques Laublé <jean-jacques.lauble@wanadoo.fr>
posting date Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:59:59 +0200
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Referencing the ""Information display challenge (SD6520) I do not think that there is much to add to Joel Rahn remark about two
difficulties: first finding the critical information and then displaying it except that it is very annoying that there are two of them, but if we can solve the first difficulty, maybe the second will be straightforward.
But, one of my concern is not about how I represent a CLD.
I use generally a stock and flow diagram with causal tracing and loops but can start with a simple CLD without stocks. But before making a CLD or SFD one must know what to put in it.
And to do that one must get closer to the customer problem, preferably written in plain English, which eases the communication and that is to my opinion the best tool to express anything. Just try to translate a Shakespeare drama into a CLD!
I tried to use cognitive mapping techniques like Decision Explorer but I prefer a good text explanation.
The point is that the way the problem will be formulated in plain English is critical for the rest of the study, and I should say that once that first step is accomplished, everything else is a simple matter of technique and that the quality of the modelling effort will mainly depend on that first step.
So the question is what should be done in that first step to make the translation easier to the second step and the next ones?
To resume what kind of style, presentation, order, way to verify the completeness, coherence, etc... is to be respected?
Another question near the problem of the customer too. I ask this question to modellers with a lot of experience. When a problem is exposed one can opt for two solutions. Of course one can opt for an intermediate solution, but I expose these two because they are extreme. The first one is to find right away an optimised solution that solves definitely the problem at hand, trying to model the reality concerned. The second one is to start from a solution already existing and try to improve it step by step, looking more at past experiences and building on future experiences to be done, to solve the problem. Knowing that people will say that it depends on the type of problem, the question is: In general, is the solution nearer to the first extreme or to the second one.
Regards.
Jean-Jacques Laublé Eurli Allocar.
Posted by Jean-Jacques Laublé <jean-jacques.lauble@wanadoo.fr>
posting date Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:59:59 +0200
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