REPLY Land Tax Dynamics (SD6083)

[Jim Hines Jim ventanasystems.com]

Posted by   "Jim Hines" <Jim at ventanasystems.com>
>>>> Is there any description of those informal techniques?


By "informal" I believe that people in the thread are referring to all
techniques/tools used by SDers, except for simulation modeling.  These
techniques are described in most of the introductory books on SD -- in older
books they might be grouped in a section or chapter called something like
"the conceptualization phase", because originally, they were seen as being
stepping stones to creating (and then  using) a simulation model.  In more
recent books these techniques might be grouped under the term "systems
thinking".

Causal loop diagramming may be the most important of these informal
techniques, though some would argue that stock-and-flow diagrams are at
least as important.  Causal loops have been a particular focus of the
company Pegasus, and they have articles and other short publications on the
topic (as well as on other topics).  The set of causal loops known as
"archetypes" might be interesting to you, if you haven't already seen them.
For something focused on stock-and-flow diagrams, you might take a look at
Kim Warren's book Strategy Dynamics.

Jim Hines
Posted by   "Jim Hines" <Jim at ventanasystems.com>
posting date  Tue, 5 Dec 2006 10:44:42 -0500