Places to Intervene in a System (in increasing order of effectiveness)1
- Numbers: Constants and parameters such as subsidies, taxes, and standards
- Buffers: The sizes of stabilizing stocks relative to their flows
- Stock-and-Flow Structures: Physical systems and their nodes of intersection
- Delays: The lengths of time relative to the rates of system changes
- Balancing Feedback Loops: The strength of the feedbacks relative to the impacts they are trying to correct
- Reinforcing Feedback Loops: The strength of the gain of driving loops
- Information Flows: The structure of who does and does not have access to information
- Rules: Incentives, punishments, constraints 4. Self-Organization: The power to add, change, or evolve system structure
- Goals: The purpose of the system
- Paradigms: The mind-set out of which the systemâits goals, structure, rules, delays, parametersâarises
- Transcending Paradigms
1. Meadows, D. H. Thinking in Systems: A Primer. (Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, Vt, 2008).