Places to Intervene in a System

Places to Intervene in a System

Places to Intervene in a System, Donella H. Meadows, Sustainability Institute, 1999. 

(in increasing order of effectiveness)

12. Constants, parameters, numbers
11. The size of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows
10. The structure of material stocks and flows
  9. The length of delays, relative to the rate of system changes
  8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the effect they are trying to correct against
  7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops
  6. The structure of information flow
  5. The rules of the system
  4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure
  3. The goal of the system
  2. The mindset or paradigm that the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises out of
  1. The power to transcend paradigms

Twelve leverage points, Wikipedia

  Project coordinator: Richard Tanter
22 May 2008