Use basic systems thinking to improve your implementations

If you were to google why #BIM implemtations or #Digitaltransformation project fail, you will come across the usual topics:

• a lack of clear objectives,
• resistance to change,
• inadequate training,
• poor data management,
• lack of interoperability,
• inadequate governance,
• insufficient resources.

By adding these topics to #LOOPY, you create a simple system model. Simple because;

• all that is required is to decide if a connections between the nodes has a positive or a negative effect. NOTE: In more sophisticated tools such as Bayesian Networks or Neural nets, this is done through probability tables.
• you can manipulate the model by the up and down arrows on the nodes,
• you can control the impact of items by placing them further appart,
• it can only handle a certain amount of nodes,
• in this case I have not even introduced feedback loops, but LOOPY is very much capable of dealing with it.

With this model we can now explore why our implementation is not going as planned. For instance, we can have clear objectives and theres is no resistance to change, so we give these items a plus ( + ) and we can see that the success node grows in size. However, that success can be short lived if, the other items in the model receive a minus ( - ) in which case you will see the success node shrink again.

NOTE: This is what I have simulated in the image above.

Now, you may say "This is childsplay, anyone could come to that conclusion even without such a model, so why waste time on makind these models?" To that I would say that;

1. similar to a picture is worth a 1000 words, so is seeing the visual effect of a choice.
2. even if the effects are mere guestimates, most people will have the right idea about the impact, e.g. running a stop sign comes with greater risk.
3. it can help figure out root causes, e.g. I have once used it for a client to figure out that it was the internet connection at one of their offices that was holding up everyone else.
4. that making things, such as impact between two or more topics, explicit will help navigate a world that is ever more complex and system driven world. In this regard I can warmly recommend reading https://amzn.eu/d/dhVuW9P
5. this is a pre-cursor that will enable you to move on to more sophisticated tools.