REPLY Future Development Directions (SD6268)

[System Dynamics Mailing List]

Posted by  "Jim Thompson" <james.thompson at strath.ac.uk>

Jaideep Mukherjee writes: "I strongly feel that SD got stuck with, and
enamored by, its ability to create unexpected simulation-based insights."  I
interpret the rest of that posting to be an argument for trying to solve
dynamic problems with other methodologies and in lieu of SD.

My thesis research reviews several consulting engagements in which SD was
the prominent problem-solving methodology.  Each engagement involved one or
more SD practitioners working for more than 250 hours within an
organization, usually with a team of three to thirty individuals.

The principal benefits from SD were (1) identifying cause(s) that previously
had gone unnoticed and (2) suggesting nontraditional solutions for the
identified problems.  However, the causes and solutions suggested by SD did
not make immediate sense to the persons charged with solving the problem. 

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.  In some engagements
this observation was respected by making ever more detailed SD models, for
the most part producing disappointment and disillusionment with the
methodology.  In those engagements in which the SD-generated insight was
supported by other analytics, organizational satisfaction with results and
the likelihood of implementing an SD-generated solution was much higher.  

Jim Thompson
Posted by  "Jim Thompson" <james.thompson at strath.ac.uk>
posting date  Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:34:07 -0500