This model is derived from the paper "Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems that Never Happened: Creating and Sustaining Process Improvement" by Nelson P. Repenning and John D Sterman. See Insight 9781 for a simulation of this model.

All you wanted to do was put a bird feeder in your yard to attract birds and make for a more pleasant morning. And...

There's actually more to filling a swimming pool with water than you might realize.

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

The Home Heating System can be used to demonstrate how we get caught in dilemmas and become victims of ourselves.

The purpose of this model is to have the user change the value of stocks, flows and converters to experience a variety of different graphical results. Understanding this generic model is important pre-requisite to learning about intravenous drugs in the body, radioactivity, self-esteem, water flowing from a drain and many other basic natural systems.

While these pictures represent very different things there is a common essence.

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

All the following have a common characteristic.

While these pictures represent very different things there is a common essence.

All the following have a common characteristic.

The interaction of a population of Moose and Wolves.

All the following have a common characteristic.

Little Red Riding Hood walking through the woods to Grandma's house. How long will it take?

All the following have a common characteristic.

There are limits to what one can infer from a qualitative model.

What do activities of these images have in common?

Consider the following "Sustaining the Forest" model intended to provide another example of how unexpected the behavior of a web of extended interactions can be.

Yesterday's actions are responsible for the world we experience today. And today's actions are responsible for the world that we will experience tomorrow. The "Creating the Future" model is intended to provide a better sense of the common process associated with the unexpected unfolding of the future..

When one undertakes to create a model there are a number of guidelines that are considered essential for consideration if there is to be a success with the model.