General Systemantics

Systemantics: The Underground Text of Systems Lore by John Gall, D.H. Gall (Illustrator) [ISBN 0961825103 ]

Also Systemantics: How Systems Work & Especially How They Fail by John Gall [ISBN 0812906748 ]

Systemantics is what I thought was a funny book written by a medical doctor in New England called Gall. I was in Britain at the time. Since I moved to the states, I've realized that he was not exaggerating. It is all about how systems fail to work. Here are some of the ideas - from memory.

• A complex working system will be found to have evolved from a small working system.
• To make a complex system, start with a small one and grow it. (kinda familiar?)
• If you want to get something done - do not create a system.
• No system ever does what its name says it does. (this comes from GeneralSemantics).
• Any sufficiently complex system exhibits antics. (Hence the name: system-antics),
• When a large system goes wrong, its makers usually try to do the same thing only bigger next time. (The titanic effect)
• All systems encroach.
• The file is the reality.

there are a couple dozen more.... rules to live by... IMHO

-- DickBotting

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