I'll take this opportunity to put words in John's mouth for him seeing as
I appear to up earlier than he is.
I think John is talking about system dynamics modeling. SD modeling was
developed by Jay Forrester at MIT in the late 50s, eraly 60s. It is a
technique for 1) representing the interdependent behavior of complex
systems and 2) making feedback loops explicit in these systems.
When done on computers, algebraic equations are used to quatify the
behavior of the system variables. The results of the model are valuable
aids for gaining insight into the system's aggregate behavior and for
identifying leverage points where the system's behavior can be influenced.
Speaking for John (but hastening to add he's probably quite capable of
speaking for himself) ...
Bill Braun
>John Gunkler wrote:
>
>> 1. I'd like to suggest that one excellent way to truly know what should
>> be measured in a system is to build a system dynamics model of the system.
>
>Can you (or anyone else) offer any suggestions for "how to's" in doing
>this? The only models I have used are drawn from the Fieldbook, and I
>think I am not doing/using them as effectively as I might. Thanks.
>
>Genna Southworth
>genna@mind.net
--Bill Braun <medprac@hlthsys.com>
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