Places to Intervene in a System Review

FRAME: Leverage Points to Provoke Change in Complex Systems

Places to Intervene in a System (In Increasing Order of Effectiveness)

Article by Donella H. Meadows – Review by Bryan Coffman

In order to understand how to intervene in a system and make changes we first have to understand a few concepts about how a system works. All systems and their components have system “states,” which refers to the amount of something (physical or non-material) that’s on hand—like items a store might keep in stock for sale. One state of a bathtub might be the amount of water in it. Another state might be the temperature of the water.

This review walks us through the model presented by Donella Meadows and explains each point in a system where intervention is possible and the resulting effects of those interventions.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Components of the Model
• Numbers
• Stocks and Flows
• Regulating Negative Feedback Loops
• Driving Positive Feedback Loops
• Information Flows
• The Rules of the System
• The Power of Self-Organization
• The Goals of the System
• The Mindset or Paradigm

• • •