Mental model · Systems
Feedback loops
Feedback loops: A loop is where an effect returns to change its own cause. Reinforcing loops amplify; balancing loops resist.
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A loop is where an effect returns to change its own cause. Reinforcing loops amplify; balancing loops resist.
Try it now
Take something that keeps happening. Draw the parts and arrows, and find a path that returns to where it started.
What to do with the answer
Mark the delays, then pick a realistic break point rather than the ideal one.
Where it misleads
A drawn loop is a hypothesis about a system, not the system. Test it before acting on it as fact.
The module it belongs to
- Systems Thinking — Understand connections and consequences
The book behind it
- Thinking in systems — Its big ideas, in our own words.