RAFFIAPALM

Resources for product teams from industry experts.

The homogeneity principle states that the outputs of a system are always directly proportional to the input. In other words, twice as much in results in twice as much out. This principle, however, can’t predict the effect of the previous states of the system on the outputs. Often previous states have a significant effect on present or future conditions. In other words, linearity can’t capture feedback; inputs and outputs come and go without any connection between them.

Systems operating in space and time will inevitably be affected by feedback loops from their environment as every action the system takes will drive some sort of consequence. This consequence will feed back to the future state of the system that in return will elicit a reaction from the system. Therefore, as soon as we position our system into the real world, things unavoidably turn nonlinear. The more feedback loops we capture and include in our system mapping model, the more realistic of a picture we get about reality — and the more nonlinear the world becomes.

— The Systems Thinker – Dynamic Systems: Make Better Decisions and Find Lasting Solutions Using Scientific Analysis by Albert Rutherford

Source: Amazon Kindle

Related Stories and Excerpts:

  1. There is a principle in human perception, the contrast principle, that affects the way we see the difference between two things that are presented one after another. Simply put, if the second item is fairly different from the first, we will tend to see it as more different than it actually is. So if we lift a light object first and then lift a heavy object, we will estimate the second object to be heavier than if we had lifted it without first trying the light one. The contrast principle is well established in the field of psychophysics and […]
  2. But the principle of constantly expanding your experience, both personally and vicariously, does matter tremendously in any idea-producing job. Make no mistake about that. Another point to encourage you. No doubt you have seen people who seem to spark ideas—good ideas—right off the “top of their heads,” without ever going through all this process that I have described. Sometimes you have only seen the “Eureka! I have it!” stage takes place. But sometimes you have also seen the fruits of long discipline in the practices here advocated. This discipline produces a mind so well stocked, and so quick at […]
  3. Open systems have no boundaries. All systems are connected. There are no separate individual systems. This is a difficult concept to wrap our heads around. Boundaries are artificially created by people to help them separate and clearly examine one problem at a time. There is no such thing as one correct boundary of a system. The boundaries we decide to draw around systems are based on the questions we are trying to answer and the problems we are trying to solve. The boundaries we draw can lead to problems if we fail to keep in mind that they are […]
  4. Winning over one or two customers in each of five or ten different segments—the consequence of taking a sales-driven approach—will create no word-of-mouth effect. Your customers may try to start a conversation about you, but there will be no one there to reinforce it. By contrast, winning four or five customers in one segment will create the desired effect. Thus, the segment-targeting company can expect word-of-mouth leverage early in its crossing-the-chasm marketing effort, whereas the sales-driven company will get it much later, if at all. This lack of word of mouth, in turn, makes selling the product that much […]
  5. When studying events, we look at them through analytical, logical lenses. We break them down into small, understandable chunks, and we fish for scapegoats while looking for cause-and-effect relationships. Is the economy going south? It must be the result of the poor decisions of a politician. Is the newspaper arriving late? That lazy mailman. For sure, he stopped to chat with the neighbor. Is your wife cold and distant lately? It must be her job. We seek linear, immediate, sensible explanations for problems surrounding us. But by doing so, we run the risk of seeing issues as being inflicted […]

In:

Topics: , , , ,