SessionFour011

Creating and Sharing a Diagram of Effects
DonGray and SteveSmith

Most of us tend to see the world in causal terms: gravity makes the apple fall, rain makes things grow. For simple systems, the model of Cause and Effect works pretty well. But for complex systems -- including all the systems we actually work with -- the results of causal models are often misleading or just plain wrong. When interventions are built on these models, they may fail.

To be more effective, we will supplement cause and effect thinking with systems thinking. You will work with other participants to analyze a problem within a complex system, create a diagram of effects, and design an intervention that solves the problem.

Objectives:

Review a method for creating a diagram of effects
Explore the behavior of a system
Create a diagram of effects and share the results

Prerequisites: None

Minimum: 5

Maximum: 30

Constraints: None

Track: Tools and Skills

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InTheNewsCreditCardSystem
BookReviewsSessionFour011

I would like to see some of the diagrams that came out of this workshop, along with the insights gained from creating and exploring the diagram of effects. Did anyone save the diagrams?

Esther 12.08.04

I didn't take pictures of the diagrams. Shame on me. I hope some of the participants saved them and will share them.

SteveSmith 2004.12.08

I found this in our prep work for the session. Steve created the drawing.

Here's another way of looking at the credit card problem. It doesn't reflect the activity we did in the class, but does show how the problem can start. http://www.donaldegray.com/Articles/Creditcard.pdf 2004.12.19 DonGray

Updated: Sunday, December 19, 2004