Gall's Law: But First, Simplify

When Charles Babbage, early in the Nineteenth Century, attempted to build the world’s first large calculating machine, he made the parts of wood and promptly discovered the importance of Internal Friction. Briefly, his machine wouldn’t go—and he couldn’t Push It hard enough to Make It Go without breaking it (see Pushing On The System, Chapter 11).

But although people build Systems almost instinctively,[b. ] they do not lightly turn their ingenuity to the study of How Systems Work. That branch of knowledge is not congenial to human beings; it goes against the grain. Goal-oriented Man, the Upright Ape with the spear, is interested in the end-result. If the spear flies wide of the mark, Man is

COMPLEX SYSTEMS EXHIBIT UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR One is merely a pessimistic feeling; the other conveys the exhilaration that accompanies recognition of a Law of Nature. Because of its fundamental importance for all that follows, we have termed this Law the Generalized Uncertainty Principle.

Corollary #1: A SYSTEM IS NO BETTER THAN ITS SENSORY ORGANS

Corollary #2: TO THOSE WITHIN A SYSTEM, THE OUTSIDE REALITY TENDS TO PALE AND DISAPPEAR

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