(Donella H. Meadows; ISBN ...)

Part 1: System Structure and Behavior

Ch 1: The Basics

More Than the Sum of Its Parts
Look Beyond the Players to the Rules of the Game
Bathtubs 101 – Understanding System Behavior over Time
How the System Runs Itself – Feedback
Stabilizing Loops – Balancing Feedback
Runaway Loops – Reinforcing Feedback

Ch 2: A Brief Visit to the Systems Zoo

One-Stock Systems

A Stock with Two Competing Balancing Loops – a Thermostat

A Stock with One Reinforcing Loop and One Balancing Loop – Population and Industrial Economy

A System with Delays – Business Inventory

Two-Stock Systems

A Renewable Stock Constrained by a Nonrenewable Stock – an Oil Company

Renewable Stock Constrained by a Renewable Stock – a Fishing Economy

Part 2: Systems and Us

Ch 3: Why Systems Work So Well

Resilience
Self-Organization
Hierarchy

Ch 4: Why Systems Surprise Us

Beguiling Events
Linear Minds in a Nonlinear World
Nonexistent Boundaries
Layers of Limits
Ubiquitous Delays
Bounded Rationality

Ch 5: System Traps... and Opportunities

Policy Resistance – Fixes that Fail
The Tragedy of the Commons
Drift to Low Performance
Escalation
Success to the Successful – Competitive Exclusion
Shifting the Burden to the Intervenor – Addiction
Rule Beating
Seeking the Wrong Goal

Part 3: Creating Change – in Systems and in Our Philosophy

Ch 6: Leverage Points – Places to Intervene in a System

12. Numbers – Constants and parameters such as subsidies, taxes, standards
11. Buffers - The sizes of stabilizing stocks relative to their flows
10. Stock-and-Flow Structures – Physical systems and their nodes of intersection
9. Delays – The lengths of time relative to the rates of system changes
8. Balancing Feedback Loops – The strength of the feedbacks relative to the impacts they are trying to correct
7. Reinforcing Feedback Loops – The strength of the gain of driving loops
6. Information Flows – The structure of who does and does not have access to information
5. Rules – Incentives, punishments, constraints
4. Self-Organization – The power to add, change, or evolve system structure
3. Goals – The purpose or function of the system
2. Paradigms – The mind-set out of which the system (its goals, structures, rules, delays, parameters) arises
1. Transcending Paradigms

Ch 7: Living in a World of Systems

Get the Beat of the System
Expose Your Mental Models to the Light of Day
Honor, Respect, and Distribute Information
Use Language with Care and Enrich It with Systems Concepts
Pay Attention to What Is Important, Not Just What Is Quantifiable
Make Feedback Policies for Feedback Systems
Go for the Good of the Whole
Listen to the Wisdom of the System
Locate Responsibility in the System
Stay Humble – Stay a Learner
Expand Time Horizons
Defy the Discipline
Don't Erode the Goal of Goodness


Tags: reading   thinking   systems  

Last modified 02 June 2023