Developer.* has published Places To Intervene In a System by the late Donella Meadows, with an afterword by Don Gray applying the thinking to software devleopment. Thought-provoking stuff - Meadows herself cautions that the essay is not a recipe for finding leverage points. Rather it’s an invitation to think more broadly about system change.
In summary (original numbering scheme!), places to think about intervening:
9. Numbers
8. Material stocks and flows
7. Regulating negative feedback loops
6. Driving positive feedback loops
5. Information flows
4. The rules of the system
3. The power of self-organisation
2. The goals of the system
1. The paradigm or mindset out of which the goals, rules and feedback structure arose.
[ via Johanna Rothman]
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