RE: Aphorisms (longish)

[jgarison -at- ide -dot- com]

Sorry if I'm late on this theme, but work comes first you know ...

Bill Horton had a whole list of these years ago ... several have stuck to
the Teflon coating that used to be my mind:

   Truth never sticks to glossy paper.

   Rule zero: Have something to say.

   There's always one more tpyo.


I wish I could remember the rest ...


There is a book called "Systemantics - The Underground Text of Systems Lore"
by John Gall that was originally published in 1986 but is still
extraordinarily applicable today. I have taken the liberty of extracting
some of the more relevant tidbits (OK, aphorisms) and would like to submit
them for your consideration.



Systemantics by John Gall (abr.)


1.	Systems either work poorly or not at all.

       (a) Nothing complicated works.
       (b) Complicated systems seldom exceed 5% efficiency.

2.	New systems generate new problems.

       (a) Systems should not be created needlessly.

3.	Systems tend to grow, and as they grow, they encroach.

4.	Systems display antics.

       (a) Complex systems produce unexpected results.
       (b) The total behavior of large systems cannot be predicted.
       (c) A large system produced by expanding a smaller system doesn't
behave like the smaller system.

5.	Complex systems tend to oppose their own function

       (a) Systems get in the way.
       (b) The system always kicks back.
       (c) Positive feedback is dangerous.

6.	People never do what the system says they should.

7.	The system itself doesn't do what it says it should.

8.	Reality is whatever you tell the system it is.

9.	Systems attract systems people.

       (a) For every system, there is a type of person who will thrive in or
on that system.

10.	The bigger the system, the narrower the human interface.

11.	A complex system cannot be made to work - it either works or it
doesn't.

       (a) Pushing on a system only makes things worse.

12.	A simple system, designed from scratch, sometimes works.

13.	Some complex systems actually work.

       (a) If a system works, leave it alone. [See also: If it ain't broke,
don't fix it .  -- Mark Twain]

14.	A complex system that works always evolves from a simple system that
works.

15.	A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be
made to work.  Start over beginning with a simple system that does work.

16.	In complex systems, malfunction and even nonfunction may not be
detectable for long periods of time -- if ever.

17.	Large complex systems are beyond human capacity to evaluate.

18.	A system that performs a certain way will continue to work that way
regardless of changes in need or changes in conditions.

19.	Systems develop goals of their own the instant they come into
existence.

20.	The system's own goals come first; related systems' goals come
second.

21.	Complex systems usually operate in failure mode.

22.	A complex system can fail in an infinite number of ways.

23.	You cannot predict how a system will fail by looking at the system.

24.	The reason a system fails is always discovered by accident.

25.	The larger the system, the greater the probability of unexpected
failure.

26.	Be very careful when setting up a new system -- you may be
disturbing another system that is actually working.

27.	When a fail-safe system fails, it fails by failing to fail safe.

28.	Complex systems produce complex responses to problems; they never
produce solutions.

29.	Great advances are not produced by systems designed to produce great
advances.

30.	Systems work best when designed to run downhill.

31.	Loose systems last longer and work better.

       (a) Efficient systems are dangerous to themselves as well as to
others.





SUMMARY


1.	Everything is a system.

2.	Everything is part of a larger system.

3.	The universe is infinitely systematized both upward (larger systems)
and downward (smaller systems).

4.	All systems are infinitely complex -- if it looks simple, you're
looking too closely at too small a component of the system.

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