REPLY The Death of System Dynamics? (SD6230)

[System Dynamics Mailing List]

Posted by  "Parish, Doug" <Doug.Parish at valero.com>

I think Karl has hit the nail on the head.  Public education is the key
to moving systems thinking and systems dynamics into the main stream.
Public education has converted the theory of evolution  into a fact,
convinced millions of students that the Wright brothers were first in
flight, and that the Constitution espouses a wall of separation between
church and state.  Pardon my sarcasm, but any system that can accomplish
this in two generations should have no problem transforming ST and SD
into household words and daily practice in much less time.  The key is
to get in tight with the textbook authors (or write the textbooks
ourselves) to ensure the concepts get into as many different subject
textbooks as possible.  Get teachers to workshops to develop their
skills and the march to SD should be unstoppable.

I put myself in the novice class when it comes to SD and ST.  I have
read The Fifth Discipline and The Dance of Change.  I met Mr. Senge and
Mr. Sterman at the Boston meeting in 2005 and listened to Mr. Forrester
at the same meeting.  I find the concepts stimulating and exciting and
very lacking in the business world.  Using only causal loop diagrams and
help from some friends, I was able to convince Vice Presidents of one of
my former employers to intervene with several programs to prevent my
workplace from becoming deserted before the process of closing the site
was completed over a two-year span.  Our success kept nearly 300 people
employed for an extra 18 months, long enough for a buyer to appear and
buy the site, saving all the jobs.  SD can have a profound effect
without creating any simulation models.  Just the shear logic behind a
good analysis of the problem and a well thought out CLD with feedback
loops and how to affect them worked for us.  Teaching these skills as
early as possible in the public schools would have, I believe, a
profound impact on problem solving skills throughout society.  While my
initial comments were slightly tongue-in-cheek, I wanted to pass on my
view from a successful novice standpoint to go along with the views from
higher level practitioners.  My site is still in operation 10 years
later.  Some credit for that goes to a small group (2 or 3) of novices
willing to take a shot with concepts they knew little about but felt
they were the best tool for the situation.  I really believe that the
way to take SD to the next level is via the public education system.
Waiting until students reach college-level education leaves a large
segment of the population lacking what we should consider as a basic
skill.



Doug Parish
Valero Energy Corporation
The Lima Refinery
Lima, Ohio
Posted by  "Parish, Doug" <Doug.Parish at valero.com>
posting date  Sat, 3 Feb 2007 16:21:44 -0500