A first step towards an open-source VSM software

Applying the Viable System Model is hard. But there is the 7-step methodology of Martin Pfiffner, which was a true revelation to me. Honestly, I think this is the smartest way to apply the VSM (in the corporate world) because it entangles the complexity of the theory in such a straightforward and beautiful way, without compromising on the original thoughts of Stafford Beer (who was involved in the development of the methodology).

But one thing has always been annoying in recent years: working with PowerPoint, Excel, Word & Co. as “Templates” for the design steps. Very often, you have to copy the results of one step to another file (format) for another step. You lose sometimes valuable information, and the original versions – which were generated with blood and tears – become blurred, rephrased, or somehow altered, so that the original intention might get lost. Furthermore, you can lose easily the overview of all the details of the sophisticated 7-step approach. This is especially a problem for the Success Critical Tasks – for me, a very powerful design element for a coherent design.

If it doesn’t exist – build it!

Long story short, it was time to build a VSM7 software that is able to capture the design process in the most coherent way. The first step is a vibe-coded mockup that is already ready for local usage – even though it is very simple (no database, but JSON files), it does the job.

And BTW: Some methodological details have been modified and tweaked – this reflects personal learnings from a high variety praxis.

VSM7 Mockup Full Walkthrough (ca. 47 minutes):

A big shout out to Arseny Krassikov who is building the real app/production version of the software. It’s super cool that you are dedicating your time and knowledge for this project. So if I write in this context about “we” I address the two of us :-).

BTW: We have opened a waiting list for those who want to support with feedback.

If you are curious you can grab the mockup here on GitHub – we follow a strict open-source approach.