Conversations Of Change

What is systems dynamics? A way of understanding the complex behaviour of complex systems - it's the dynamics of complex systems (social systems). How to make the abstract element of systems dynamics concrete? Practical applications of systems dynamics include: flows - changes in people, information and materials  eg the number of dollars that came in this month, the number of widgets in transit, the information that is coming in, how fast it arrives etc Also interested in accumulation - difference between incoming flows and outgoing flows. Delays in systems are also of interest to us (examples provided in the financial departments provided on the frustration of non-real time reporting) Feedback - one part of the system may produce some information that when another part of the system receives it they are compelled to respond An example in practice in healthcare. The typical flow is a patient arrives, nursing unit, to pre-op, into operating room, post op, then back to nursing unit. The change challenge was to