Hello Ben,

Happy New Year.

I rarely use the Model.Report site directly, but I do read (and sometimes save) individual email posts. More often than not these are from ‘Antler Boy’.

It seems a waste to delete the site. I’d like to see it archived, at least. Maybe through the ‘Way Back When’ internet archive?

Regards,

Colston Sanger

At 13:34 31/12/2017, you wrote:

Hey all=0D =0D Scott, who runs model.report, has had some data problems. The site is a hassle for him and therefore, he proposed to Gene Bellinger and myself that he delete it. That’s the reason for the ‘model report is deprecated’ message that you may see if you come to the site. =0D Natually, Gene (who sees, I think, the creative power of destruction) is in favour of deleting the site - he makes the point there are c200 users and <12 active posters, which I agree, in the scale of the internet, is small potatoes. He deleted his own account and therefore his c200 posts and responses on here some time ago. =0D Natually, I, who am somewhat resistant to destruction, and have invested quite a bit of time building this as a repository of all forms of systems thinking, would like to keep the site. I’m prepared to find some ways to help with that effort (financial, organisational, whatever) if it helps. =0D So, while I would like to keep the site regardless, Gene has challenged me to prove that others want to keep it to. So, if you do, please respond! =0D cheers=0D Benjamin

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There is a blog post by Dave Snowden that mentions the VSM and the ‘over-complicated’ word in proximity to each other, although the latter does not directly refer to the former.

Url is http://cognitive-edge.com/blog/the-table-napkin-test/ from May 2015. The passage is:

‘The Viable Systems Model (VSM) for example is clearly within the cybernetic framework of causality but it is desperately trying to break away from those constraints. It does not pass the table napkin test although it is much loved by reductionist consultants. This may upset a few readers, but when people couple complexity theory with VSM it is one of my warning signs for someone who likes the language of complexity but really has not internalised the meaning. I find VSM valuable for its original insight, but not for current use. Others are far worse, the http://scaledagileframework.comSAFe one is a classic example of a over complicated and simplistic framework designed for accreditation revenue and consultancy dependency …’

Atb,

Colston Sanger

At 13:31 30/01/2017, you wrote:

Does anyone know where this canard, which cropped up regularly in my students' exams this year, might have come from? =0D There is another lecturer so, for marking I evaluated the phrase in context against the arguments they made. But I really disagree and would like to find the source… anyone?

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