Ventana software support forum

I am so conflicted about Kim Warrens posting. He is so right to say that
SD isnt just another tool, and his example is scores a direct hit. The
comment about feedback is not solid. Lots of us believe feedback is as
basic as integration to system dynamics.

Jim Hines
jhines@mit.edu

Dana Meadows commented on the consultants plea that the extreme detail pleases the clients. She raises the good question whether its really in the clients interest to put in (and pay for) the detail. Id like to raise a slightly different question: The consultants time might be better spent explainin...

A quick reminder: The Spring Term MIT distance courses in system dynamics start in early March. If you are thinking of taking one of the courses, you should apply pronto. For more info. see http://caes.mit.edu/Programs/dist_sys_cert.html or email me at jhines@mit.edu. Regards, Jim Hines MIT jhines@m...

You want to use an "aging chain". An aging chain is simply a several material delays hooked together. (A material delay is a decay with an input - probably what youre using right now). So the input to the first stock is whatever your current input is (births?), the output of the first stoc...

MIT is now accepting applications for courses beginning in March in the SD Advanced Study Program. MITs Advanced Study Program in System Dynamics is a distance program aimed at folks who want to become excellent in system dynamics, but who dont want to become resident students. The program is a four...

Slobodan asks why all the hoopla over resource allocation problems that can be solved easily using optimization methods. "Why," he wonders, " is the solution sought in the realm of SD?" Most people in the discussion are not interested in resource allocation per se, but rather in ...

Ed Gallahers note on thermostats is a terrific example of how most modeling difficulties are resolved when the real-world "policies" are understood. I have noticed that its much easier to model after asking people how they really make decisions, than it is after simply thinking about eithe...

Harvard University and High Performance Systems have created a couple of CD-based cases that rely heavily on system dynamics models built right into the CD. I have heard that one of these cases has become Harvards biggest selling case (and Harvard sells a lot of cases). Regards, Jim Hines From: &quo...

Brock, We are investigating how organizations can develop better policies (in the SD sense of the word "policy") through managers learning from one another. For us, learning is a "genetic" process involving mutation and recombination of ideas and identification of successful effo...

>In fact, the problem I have with the kind of >population model one creates in Stella, for example, has babies emerging >from a "cloud", a device I find extremely counterintuitive, when its >obviously a circular flow. There are two flows in the population model - a conserved flow and a cau...

John,

I think that Jay Forresters Market Growth as Influenced by Capital
Investment can do what you request and more.

Regards,
Jim Hines
From: "Jim Hines" <jhines@MIT.EDU>

MIT is interested in gauging interest in a 10-week system dynamics course offered at a distance. If you think this might be interesting to folks, please email me at JHines@MIT.EDU. Although tailored for distance learning, the course would cover essentially the same ground as MITs semester-length int...

Kahlid, I like Khalids suggestion. The society should now encourage university-level **programs** in system dynamics. I think the society could come up with a set of courses that should be included in a certified SD program. I think the promise of certification would encourage universities to move f...