Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System
by Donella Meadows

Made into a thread for QTing, by me!

Some Systems Theory terminology:

the state of the system is some key stock, eg "water in damn", "money in bank", "trust in officials"

inflows increase stock, outflows decrease
inflow > out stock goes up, & vv

an agent may compare perceived state to goal & adjust accordingly

For example, imagine filling a bathtub with water: inflow from the faucet, outflow through the drain.

Turning the faucet fully open doesn't immediately fill the tub—it takes time for flows to accumulate.

You control the inflow & outflow to make the water level match your goal.

Of course, in reality there's also a temperature variable, with a delay to get hot water from the basement, etc

and this applies to other systems, from global climate feedback loops to $ to perceptual systems in your own brain

okay: enough systems theory, time for the list!

PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM

(in increasing order of effectiveness)

This list evolved from a flash of insight D.M. had during a meeting. This version's from ~1999—she indicated it's a work-in-progress & intended to invite co-exploration. Maybe twitter's the medium for that!

Leverage Point 12: constants, parameters, numbers

eg
- tax rates
- wages, prices
- pollution limits
- funding availability
- which person is in a particular role

Parameters are only high-leverage to the extent they affect other items on this list, like loop gain or goals.

Leverage Point 11: sizes of buffers & other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows

eg difference between
a lake (mostly buffer)
a river (mostly flow)

More buffer usually means more stability & margin-for-error, but can be costly & less agile. Often hard to change.

Leverage Point 10: structure of material stocks and flows

eg Hungarian road system send all traffic thru Budapest—that creates a lot of air pollution & commuting delays that are not easily fixed by , , speed limits

Low leverage to rebuild; higher to design well in 1st place

Leverage Point 9: lengths of delays

Delay can be in perception or execution

Often issue is too much delay (overshooting oscillations, eg shower temp) but too little = overreaction (eg )

Delays are RELATIVE to rate of system change—often easier to modify the latter

Leverage Point 8: strength of negative feedback loops

these self-correcting loops maintain equilibrium (dynamic or status)

some usually-inactive but vital (eg fuse)

RELATIVE to disturbance size: eg thermostat+furnace can handle a cold winter day but not if all windows opened

Leverage Point 7: gain around driving positive feedback loops

these self-reinforcing loops drive exponential growth

eg more sick people, more transmission of virus:
WAY costlier to fight each instance than reduce gain #StayAtHome

eventually will hit a limit (sometimes )

Leverage Point 6: structure of information flows (who does & does not have access to information)

usually the leverage point here is in restoring the flow of information that has been blocked to avoid accountability

eg companies may pollute less if required to publish emissions

Leverage Point 5: the rules of the system (eg incentives, punishments, constraints)

All previous leverage points are subject to the rules of the context they're in. The real incentives: de facto, not de jure.

> "Suppose a class got graded as a group, instead of as individuals"

Leverage Point 4: the power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure

eg
- evolution
- technology
- cultural change

More self-organization = more resilience & creativity & learning, but harder to externally control so often resisted (in govt, corp, edu, family).

Leverage Point 3: the goals of the system.

All points so far are subject to "what is system trying to do?"

Often "control"/"power-over", which undermines self-organization, as above.

One of the ways people impact systems (govt, corp) is by aligning people around new goals.

Leverage Point 2: the mindset/paradigm out of which the system arises

The meaning-context in which to debate goals, rules., is in the shared ideas in the minds of society, unstated because everyone already knows them.

Hard to change but (unlike ) can flip in an instant

Leverage Point 1: the power to transcend paradigms

to realize that NO paradigm is “true”

to “get” at a gut level the paradigm that there are paradigms, & see that that itself is a paradigm, and to regard that whole realization as devastatingly funny

to let go into Not Knowing

D.M. concludes ~

> so much has to be said to qualify this list [this goes 10× for this tweetstorm]

> It is tentative & its order is slithery… exceptions to every item can move it up or down"

> The higher the leverage point, the more the system will resist changing it

Paradoxically,
> In the end, it seems that mastery has less to do with pushing leverage points than it does with strategically, profoundly, madly letting go.

Full essay: http://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/