Gall's Law: But First, Simplify
Gall's Law is one of those statements that just keeps hitting harder and more deeply the more time I spend with it. At first it seemed false, then a truism, then an interesting insight, and now a foundational belief about the world. https://t.co/9gfnaeAPqH
Matt Mower added
Galls Law
“Risk means more things can happen than will happen.” - Elroy DimsonGall’s Law: “A complex system that works invariably evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work.”
Morgan Housel • Makes You Think
sari added
the System must not be built too tight nor wound up too tightly or it will (1) seize up (2) peter out, or (3) fly apart: LOOSE SYSTEMS LAST LONGER AND FUNCTION BETTER Since most of modern life is lived in the interstices of large systems, it is of practical importance to note that LOOSE SYSTEMS HAVE LARGER INTERSTICES and are therefore generally so
... See moreJohn Gall • Systemantics. The Systems Bible
SYSTEMS RUN BEST WHEN DESIGNED TO RUN DOWNHILL More briefly formulated: AVOID UPHILL CONFIGURATIONS —or, in the vernacular: GO WITH THE FLOW In human terms, this means working with human tendencies rather than against them.
John Gall • Systemantics. The Systems Bible
the very first principle of Systems-design is a negative one: DO IT WITHOUT A NEW SYSTEM IF YOU CAN The scholar will recognize this as Occam’s Razor in modern form: AVOID UNNECESSARY SYSTEMS (SYSTEMS SHOULD NOT BE MULTIPLIED UNNECESSARILY) Two immediate Corollaries, with significant implications for Management, are as follows: (I) DO IT WITH AN EXI
... See moreJohn Gall • Systemantics. The Systems Bible
SYSTEMS TEND TO OPPOSE THEIR OWN PROPER FUNCTIONS
John Gall • Systemantics. The Systems Bible
As Fritjof Capra says: a machine can be controlled, a living system can only be disturbed. At best, we will find ways of carefully nudging a living system. According to Donella Meadows, we must find its leverage points, those pivots that allow us to influence system behavior. Most importantly: after each cautious inter- vention, we must patiently o... See more
Understanding Living Systems
“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.”—John Gall