Human dominion over nature?

It used to be that humans had dominion over the world. The world was there to take. We invaded foreign lands, took the resources we needed, and created the built environment. Now we are not so sure. We sit at an uneasy juncture - somewhere between opposing mind sets. We are unsure of how to prevent the dilemmas we face.

(This model illustrates two new semantics in Southbeach 0.9 - 'prevents' and 'contributes to')

Analysing the water crisis in Australia's Marray-Darling Basin

This model was created as part of an open ideation event run by http://circleofblue.org/.

It shows some of the problems being caused by over extractraction of water from the Murray-Darling basin in Australia. And also some of the solutions (blue boxes) being considered. This is a world issue that has manifested in many countries and will continue to manifest as our water consumption increases with population and adoption of water hungry appliances and crops in areas that require artificial irrigation.

Here is how one might go about developing a model like this:

1. Create a model, a hypothesis - describing the problem, and consequences of attempted solutions to date 

2. Elaborate the model with subject matter experts - from all walks, agriculture, industry, government, science, ... - Bring in other people's perspectives on the model 

3. Elaborate further, creating sub-models for drill down into complex or contentious areas 

4. Perform a root cause analysis to understand how this situation arose 

5. Share the model and report with others to gather feedback iteratively

6. Capture the feedback in terms of model elaborations and ideas entered into the report 

7. Create a plan of action, and show the to-be model next to the as-is model 

8. Do an impact and risk analysis on the plan of action and refine it by mitigating risks and protecting against adverse impacts 

9. Create the final report and action plan for improving your situation

10. Execute

Viral Change (TM)

This model is based on the work of Leandro Herrero, a viral change specialist. The Southbeach model is based on a figure on page 16 of his book, Viral Change - The Alternative to Slow, Painful and Unsuccessful Management of Change in Organisations.

The model illusrates two new "experimental" effects in Southbeach - 'Specifies' and 'Implements'. These effects have no standard Southbeach visualization at this time, and are simply denoted by a standard closed arrow head and text label.

The concept of 'Implementation' is broad. A implements B means, in effect, that A is part of the 'engine' behind B, for example, a CPU chip 'implements' the logic required for a computer to work. A process engine, in BPM, implements the process design. Our brain 'implements' our conciousness. We are sure you can think of many other examples.

'Specifies' is another experimentation effect in Southbeach. It is a related effect to 'Implements'. A software design document 'specifies' a software program. A blueprint 'specifies' a building. A manager who sets out policy 'specifies' the way processes should be administered.

Experimentation effects in Southbeach are released in the software once it is clear that they are 1) useful, 2) have a well defined and distinct meaning (over other effects) and 3) once a clear visual representation has been agreed and developed.

You can now Draw in Southbeach too!

This image shows some of the drawing tools in Southbeach 0.9. It includes lines, boxes, circles, elipses, polygons and flexigons - solid, dashed and filled. Also provided is a text object and a block arrow.

These drawing tools are typically used sparingly to annotate key aspects of a model, for example, to draw a boundary around a set of agents. The tools provided are 'enough' for most purposes, and cover the common idioms we often see used in analytical diagrams.

Drawing tools in Southbeach have been implemented in their own 'layer', separate to the modeling agents, choices, decisions and effects. This makes selecting, moving, resizing and modifying agents and drawing objects separately very convenient. Even unfilled objects such as dashed boxes can be dragged by clicking anywhere inside the area.

Value chain transformation

This model illustrates some of the new features for modeling situations in Southbeach 0.9(Beta imminent). The model also illustrates a situation common in business. Here, a supply chain is represented, comprising parts manufactured by supply chain partners, contributing to a final legacy product. This product, and its supply chain, is owned by the supply chain leader. Way down the chain, a contract manufacturer of parts is aware of an innovation that can lead to a new product. In effect, a part is transformed. If this innovation were released on the market, the emcumbant supply chain would be de-stabilized. A choice (diamond) has opened up in the marketplace and is being driven by the two forces operating.

Thus, the supply chain leader has foreseen this and interjected a patent fence to counteract the transformation occuring (or at least to retrade its emergence in the marketplace).

This model also shows one of the new drawing tools in Southbeach. Lines, boxes, circles, pologons can now be drawn in solid, dashed and filled.

Intervening with Actions

In Southbeach 0.9, a new type of colored box has been introduced. What management consultants told us was that in client presentations it would be useful to them to distinguish their recommended actions and interventions to solve the client's problem. We call these agents 'actions', and they are shown in blue in order to distinguish them from useful boxes (green) and harmful boxes (red).



Actions can be considered to be in some ways 'outside' of the model, or superimposed on the model - intervening on it. In TRIZ, this could be called the 'supersystem' or 'external environment'. In effect, the consultants that gave us the feedback that led us to add 'actions' to Southbeach, are 'external' to the client as they make their proposals for change/transformation.

Whether you are a management consultant or another kind of problem solver, we hope you find these visually distinctive 'action' shapes useful in your work. Formally, 'actions' are considered 'useful' in a Southbeach model.

In the example model above, also note the use of 'insufficient'. There is both an action to increase the 'insfficiency in the system'. There is also an 'insufficient action' which may or may not be sufficient to address problem area three.

Potential of 'ideation' in the enterprise

This model shows the top 5 benefits of 'ideation' (large scale collaborative problem-solving using tools like Imaginatik's Idea Central). As companies come to understand these benefits, it raises an issue they must focus on - how to take advantage of the capability ideation provides. They must understand the tool has no value in the absense of appropriate business challenges. If the company can be proactive and set ideation challenges, they will enjoy proactive participation from staff. If they can turn this participation into results (our goal) via the idea development, evaluation and conclusion process, this will amplify the organization's willingness to set more challenges, generating more results. This virtuous circle is what empowers every well-founded ideation program.

This model illustrates two new features in the coming release of Southbeach Modeller. A grouping box has been used to highlight the benefits of ideation. An 'issue' lozenge shape has been used to highlight the question that enterprise's must ask themselves.

Charities partnering Service

This Southbeach model describes some of the challenges and capabilities that charities have, and how if they could find a way to partner with other charities with complimentary capabilities and needs, they could help each other more effectively utilize their own capabilities to produce solutions that meet their goals.

The idea is that a Charity Partnering Service could consume capabilities from some charities that are then paired with challenges faced by other charities to help them meet their mutual goals. For example, one charity needing funds for projects may receive donations from another charity where those projects also meet the needs of the other charities charter. Similarly, one charity may have a distribution network in place for delivering aid, whereas another charity may have access to supplies that could be delivered through that distribution network.

Social media is sited as one example of how such a service could enable charities to share information about their resources and needs to enable a 'dating-agency' for charities to match them with potential partners.

The model was inspired by a discussion with Andreas Rindler, the Finance Director of the UK arm of the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre-UK (MDAC-UK).

Obama's Prisoner Dilemma: Reject Torture, Defend Torturers

According to Wired [Feb 04, 2009] President Barack Obama finds himself in a quandary of sorts over his public position opposing torture and secret detentions.

The new U.S. president has renounced those Bush administration practices, but government lawyers continue to defend the previous administration's top officials accused of authorizing and carrying out those policies.

Unexpected events

As many companies ponder the financial downturn, no doubt some are wondering whether there needs to be radical changes to their strategic plans, risk management programs, and planning processes for resource allocation. This model illustrates the dilemna many will face as we go into 2009 and beyond.