System Dynamics

System Guidelines

1. Everything is connected to everything else
2. You can never do just one thing
3. There is no “away”
4. TANSTAAFL: There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch
5. Nature knows best
6. It ain’t what you don’t know that hurts you; it’s what DO you know that ain’t so
7. “Obvious solutions” do more harm than good
8. Look for high leverage points
9. Nothing grows forever
10. Don’t fight positive feedback; support negative feedback instead
11. Don’t try to control the players, just change the rules
12. Don’t make rules that can’t be enforced
13. There are no simple solutions
14. Good intentions are not enough
15. High morality depends on accurate prophecy
16. If you can’t make people self-sufficient, you aid does more harm than good
17. There are no final answers
18. Every solution creates new problems
19. Loose systems are often better
20. Don’t be fooled by system cycles
21. Remember the Golden Mean
22. Beware the empty compromise
23. Don’t be a boiled frog
24. Watch out for thresholds
25. Competition is often cooperation in disguise
26. Bad boundaries make bad governments
27. Beware the Tragedy of the Commons
28. Foresight always wins in the long run

Contact Information

E-mail address

lofdahl@alum.mit.edu

Web address

www.nyx.net/~clofdahl

Colophon

Disclaimer: This document in no way represents NYX Net Public Access UNIX.

All opinions are mine and mine alone.

Last revised: may ‘02