The Business SIG of the System Dynamics Society, in partnership with Leverage Networks, has begun producing a series of short articles to demonstrate the usefulness of System Dynamics (SD) for addressing complex problems within the business and non-academic sectors. These success stories are intended to be a consistent, professional and easy to digest resource geared towards potential clients and problem owners who are performing due-diligence and are unfamiliar with SD. The articles are typically 500 to 1000 words or about 2-3 pages in length and include the following items:
- A simple description of the problem over time
- An explanation of how SD was used to address the problem
- The quantifiable impact on the organization (preferably in dollars or some other concrete measure)
- Quotes from the client
- One or two visual graphics. These can be simple pieces of the model or key figures/graphs
Practitioners are free to withhold sensitive information, as necessary. However, we would like permission to use the client’s name and logo on the case as well as on a public list of companies that have used SD.
The narrative structure typically proceeds as follows:
- Brief introduction to the organization
- Description of the problem or challenge
- Motivation for why SD was a strong fit
- Brief description of how SD was used, highlighting key insights, ideas, and benefits from the modeling process
- Resulting impact
To support this effort, we are looking for project nominations. Feel free to suggest your own projects or those produced by colleagues. Once selected we will work with the practitioners to produce the article in a style and format that is consistent and accessible to someone unfamiliar with SD.
If you are willing to contribute a story or volunteer as an author please email: business@sigs.systemdynamics.org
For more information about this and other BSIG initiatives please visit: sigs.systemdynamics.org/business
