Facilitated Systems: System Dynamics

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System Dynamics

Businesses and other organizations face tough problems every day. Some resist all our attempts to fix them; some even resist all our attempts to make sense of them. Many of these problems play out over time, which makes it harder for us to connect cause and effect.

Facilitated Systems can help you make sense of such challenging problems using system dynamics.

"Applying mathematical principles to the life and development of an orchestra audience ... is something that fascinates me, and I have never seen it depicted as clearly and effectively as Bill manages in this compelling essay."
Jason Heath, double bassist, in
"Bill Harris and the TAFTO initiative—crunching orchestra audience numbers in stunning detail"

"Drew prefaced today's entry with a promise that it would wow readers with the concepts it was presenting. I have to say it certainly did for me. Bill Harris of Facilitated Systems creates a computer model to test if Drew's TAFTO program is beneficial for orchestras in comparison with paid advertising."
Joe Patti, theatre manager and author of
Butts In the Seats—Musings on Practical Solutions for Arts Management, in
"Modeling Consumer Behavior"

Perhaps you're not facing a problem but trying to make an important decision. What strategy should you select for your organization? Maybe you have the feeling that you're trying all your initiatives live, in front of your employees, your customers, your investors, and even your competitors. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to test your decisions before you make them? Wouldn't it be nice to have dress rehearsals for your organization?

Facilitated Systems applies system dynamics to organizational and business issues. For example, one organization had problems with monthly expenses which were sometimes well over budget and sometimes well under. Everyone believed it was just the nature of the new product development business. A simple system dynamics model captured their essential spending decision processes and was able to replicate the pattern. A modification to the information managers used to make spending decisions eliminated the fluctuations and gave the organization predictable and controllable spending.

An organization had a stretch goal for improving quality in released software. The manager believed the constraint was a lack of engineers. A simulation helped reveal that adding engineers wasn't sufficient; the decision-making process which controlled the timing of maintenance projects must also be changed.

Contact Facilitated Systems if you'd like to discuss your issues. Ask about a Systems Thinking Workshop to help your organization make sense of issues and solve problems more effectively, or discuss whether it makes more sense to get personalized group or individual consulting.

"In the meantime, every orchestra manager and board member out there from the biggest budget ensemble right through volunteer groups must take time out of their day and read Bill's contribution. It simply is that significant..."
Drew McManus, musician, manager, and cultural entrepreneur, in
"TAFTO 2007 Contribution - Bill Harris"

"In my opinion, I think the results are astonishing and offer enough material for the entire classical music business to take a collective step back and reconsider how they go about building and maintaining an audience."
Drew McManus in
"April Is Take A Friend To Orchestra Month - 2007"

To learn more about system dynamics, check out At Any Rate(tm), a column published by Pegasus Communications, see the list of publications, and read Making Sense With Facilitated Systems.