Viable System Model Explained – The Activity Series
I you are looking for simple yet concise examples which explain the Viable System Model this is a good starting point. The found of the series is the basic question: How can activities of different types of organizations be understood through the lens of the VSM? Overview VSM Examples A family A person A small…
Viable System Model – Family Example
The Viable System Model (VSM) can seem complex at first glance, with its abundance of symbols, lines, and loops. However, it becomes surprisingly straightforward when connected to the fundamental activities of real-world organizations. Since my mission of disseminating the VSM is going on, I am launching a series of concise, activity-based explanations. These are designed…
Stop calling it Artificial Intelligence
There’s a better name for it Introduction As promised here is the second blog post about AI. It is divided into three parts. In the first part, I try to summarise some recent developments. The second part contains my first interview, done with an artificial customer (created with OpenAI’s GPT-3). Lastly, I want to share a fascinating proposal from a friend on…
Communication about Artificial Intelligence
When German feuilleton readers talk about AGI This blog post is an updated version of a German piece (from Februrary 2019). After three years, I thought it was time to include some exciting developments from 2020 and 2021. The update highlights four examples to illustrate the progress made in Data Science, Machine/Deep Learning, aka AI. Spoiler Alert:…
Viable System Model Example
How to apply the Viable System Model? One of the most obvious ways to use the Viable System Model is a mapping approach. You take the VSM quite literally and map organizational aspects like meetings, roles, tools, or artifacts to the model’s different systems. Even though this method is partially criticized within the VSM community,…
Introduction to the Viable System Model
My Video Lectures about the Viable System Model Finally, I am releasing the first three videos about my introduction to the Viable System Model. I decided that I wanted to share everything I have understood so far, but not in a written form anymore. Therefore, I produced a series of simple screen captures and dared…
Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety
The Story of Requisite Variety for Reflective Practitioners It is a real pity that the idea of Requisite Variety is almost unknown. From my perspective, it is astonishing that almost no one with a degree in business has heard about it, not to talk about many Agile or Lean folks. It is insofar unbelievable, as…
Service Dominant Logic
The fundamental misunderstanding about products, services, and value creation It is popular to speak about product-led organizations. They shall be able to solve customer problems better because teams in this kind of organization have full accountability for product success. An enterprise organized around products The basic idea sounds fantastic: Instead of organizing an enterprise functionally…
Viable Leadership – Basic Questions
A nano manifesto for Viable Leadership The one who contributes leads – forget the organigram. Four basic questions of Leadership “What must be done? …is more important than… “What do I want to do?” “Is this the right thing to do?” …takes precedence over… “How do employees, clients, and shareholders value my work?” “What contribution…
