PG02_Using Archetypes12:Using the Archetypes 04 12/19/12 1:25 PM Page 1

A Pocket Guide Archetype/Application Intervention Guidelines Illustration

to Using the Archetypes LIMITS TO SUCCESS

Application: Planning
1. Identify the growth engines.
2. Determine doubling time of those processes.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT CAPACITY LIMITS

3. Identify potential limits and balancing loop(s)—

by Daniel H. Kim and Colleen P. Lannon If we don’t plan for limits, we are
physical capacity, information systems, personnel,
planning for failure. The “Limits to Technical
management expertise, attitudes/mental models. s Support
Success” archetype shows that Quality of
Archetype/Application Intervention Guidelines Illustration being successful can be just as
4. Determine change required to deal effectively with Marketing s
D
Technical
o
Capacity
the limit(s) identified. Budget s elay Support
dangerous to long-term health as 5. Assess time needed to change. Is there a discrep- Technical
DRIFTING GOALS 1. Identify drifting performance measure. DRIFTING QUALITY STANDARDS being unsuccessful. By mapping out ancy between the doubling time and the changes R1 Sales B2 Support Needs
Application: Staying Focused on 2. Look for goals that conflict with the stated goal. that need to be made to support that growth?
o the growth engines and potential s s
Vision 3. Identify standard procedures for closing the gap. 6. Balance the growth. What strategies can be used Marketing s
s
Installed
Various pressures can often take our Are they inadvertently contributing to the goal Tater Tot Quality Pressure to danger points in advance, we can Base of
Standard Lower Goal anticipate future problems and to balance the growth engine with the time frame of Customers
attention away from what we are slippage? B2
the investments that must be made to sustain it?
trying to achieve. The “Drifting 4. Examine the past history of the goal. Have the s eliminate them before they become
s 7. Reevaluate the growth strategy. Continually
Goals” archetype helps explain goals themselves been lowered over time? Quality Gap a threat. challenge assumptions in context of the broader
why an organization is not able to 5. Anchor the goal to an external reference. o
s company.
achieve its desired goals. Used as a 6. Clarify a compelling vision that will involve every-
B1 Investments in
diagnostic tool, it can target drifting one. Actual
Tater Tot Quality Production Process SHIFTING THE BURDEN 1. Identify the original problem symptom(s). INTERLOCKING PROBLEMS
performance areas and help orga- 7. Create a clear transition plan. Explore what it will and Ingredients
s lay Application: Breaking 2. Map all “quick fixes” that appear to be keeping IN CAR DEVELOPMENT
nizations attain their visions. take to achieve the vision, and establish a realistic De Communication
timeline. Organizational Gridlock the problems under control. PROGRAM with NVH s

Organizational gridlock can be 3. Identify impact on others. What are the impacts of B5
those “solutions” on other players in the company? o
ESCALATION 1. Identify the competitive variable. Is a single ESCALATING FREQUENT caused by interlocking “Shifting the Quick Fix Interaction Effect
4. Identify fundamental solutions. Look at the situa- (e.g., Add s
(e.g., Weight) Chassis
Application: Managing variable the basis of differentiation between FLYER PROMOTIONS Burden” structures, as one function’s tion from both perspectives to find a systemic Reinforcements
s
s Problem o
Competition competitors? “solution” creates problems in solution. B1 B2
One of the reasons we get caught 2. Name the key players caught in the dynamic. another area. The archetype pro- 5. Map side-effects of quick fixes that may be under- R3
s Quick Fix
in escalation dynamics may stem 3. Map what is being threatened. Are your compa- vides a starting point for breaking mining the usability of the fundamental solution. o NVH* s (e.g., Increase
from our view of competition. The ny’s actions addressing the real threat, or simply pre- 6. Find interconnections to fundamental loops. Find
Problem Interaction Effect s Tire Pressure)
s
A’s Ticket B’s Ticket gridlock by identifying chains of o (e.g.,
“Escalation” archetype suggests that serving core values that may no longer be relevant? Sales s o Sales s the links between the interaction effects and the fun- Harshness)
cutthroat competition serves no one 4. Reevaluate competitive measure. Can the vari- problem symptoms and solutions B4
Market Share B’s Frequent damental solution that may be creating gridlock. s
well in the long run. The archetype able that is the foundation of the game (price, quali- A’s Frequent
Flyer Promotion B1 B2 Flyer Promotion that form walls between functions, Communication *NVH = noise,
of Airline A 7. Identify high-leverage actions from both with Chassis vibration, harshness
provides a way to identify escala- ty, etc.) be shifted? s
Relative to B
s
departments, or divisions. perspectives.
Competitive Competitive
tion structures at work and shows 5. Quantify significant delays that may be distorting Threat to o s Threat to
how to break out of them or avoid the nature of the threat. Airline A Airline B
them altogether. 6. Identify a larger goal encompassing both parties’ SUCCESS TO THE SUCCESSFUL 1. Investigate historical origins of competencies. SUCCESS OF THE “QWERTY” KEYBOARD
goals. Application: Avoiding 2. Identify potential competency traps.
7. Avoid future “Escalation” traps by creating a sys- Competency Traps 3. Evaluate current measurement systems—are they
tem of collaborative competition. The “Success to the Successful” set up to favor current systems over other alternatives?
4. Map internal view of market success. What are
archetype suggests that success or Skill in Using o Skill in Using
the operating assumptions regarding success in the QWERTY
s
DVORAK
FIXES THAT FAIL 1. Identify problem symptom. FIXES FOR FALLING SALES failure may be due more to initial market? Desire to Use s
s R1 R2
Application: Problem-Solving 2. Map current interventions and how they were conditions than intrinsic merits. It 5. Obtain external views of market success. Ask “out- QWERTY Instead
of DVORAK
Almost any decision carries long- expected to rectify the problem. can help organizations challenge siders” for alternative strategies. Efforts to Efforts to
term and short-term consequences, 3. Map unintended consequences of the interven- o
their success loops by “unlearning” 6. Assess effects on the innovative spirit. Is the cur- Learn QWERTY s o Learn DVORAK
Marketing Attractiveness
tions. s
Promotions of Product w/o what they are already good at in rent system excluding or limiting the spirit of experi- Keyboard Keyboard
and the two are often diametrically Revenue s
4. Identify fundamental causes of the problem. Promotions mentation that will lead to new alternatives?
opposed. The “Fixes That Fail” Pressure order to explore new approaches
5. Find connections between both sets of loops. Are Attractiveness De
la y 7. Continually scan for gaps and areas for
s B1 of Buying R2 and alternatives.
archetype can help you get off the the fixes and the fundamental causes linked? Now vs. Later improvement.
problem-solving treadmill by identi- 6. Identify high-leverage interventions. Add or break Falling Sales o
s
links in the diagram to create structural interventions. Volume Sales Erosion of
fying fixes that may be doing more Problem o Product Image
7. Map potential side-effects for each intervention in o TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS 1. Identify the “commons.” What is the common OVERGRAZING THE ALTERNATOR
harm than good.
order to be prepared for them (or to avoid them Application: Resource Allocation resource that is being shared? Desire to
altogether). In a “Tragedy of the Commons” situ- 2. Determine incentives. What are the reinforcing Improve
Functionality s
ation, the complex interaction of processes that are driving individual use of the s
resource?
individual actions produces an R1 Component A’s
GROWTH AND 1. Identify interlocked patterns of behavior between UNDERINVESTING IN 3. Determine time frame for reaping benefits. Functionality
UNDERINVESTMENT capacity investments and performance measures. SERVICE CAPACITY undesirable collective result, such as 4. Determine time frame for experiencing cumulative Electrical
Requirements of s
Application: Capital Planning 2. Identify delays between when performance falls the depletion of a common effects of the collective action. Component A
If demand outstrips capacity, and when additional capacity comes on-line—partic- resource. The archetype can be 5. Make the long-term effects more present. How s
B3
ularly perceptual delays regarding the need to used to help connect the long-term can the long-term loss or degradation of the com- s Alternator
performance can suffer and hurt s s Alternator Capacity
invest. effects of individual actions to the mons be more real and present to the individual Total
o
demand. If this dynamic is not rec- 3. Quantify and minimize acquisition delays. users? Electrical Load Power Avail. s

y
Product collective outcome, and to develop Requirement Per Component

la
Marketing R1 B2
ognized, the decrease in demand

De
4. Identify related capacity shortfalls. Are other parts Sales 6. Reevaluate the nature of the commons. Are there s
can then be used as a reason not “Acceptable” measures for managing the com-
of the system too sluggish to benefit from added s Service s Service
other resources or alternatives that can be used to s B4
o mon resource more effectively.
to invest in the needed capacity. capacity? s
Quality Quality remove the constraint upon the commons? Electrical
“Growth and Underinvestment” can 5. Fix investment decisions on external signals, not De De
lay R4 7. Limit access to resources. Determine a central Requirements of R2 s
lay o Component B
be used to ensure that investment on standards derived from past performance. s focal point—a shared vision, measurement system, R2 Component B’s
6. Avoid self-fulfilling prophecies. Challenge the B3 Perceived Need or final arbiter—that allocates the resource based on Functionality
decisions are viewed from a fresh to Invest
assumptions that drive capacity investment decisions. Investment in in Capacity the needs of the whole system. s Desire to s
perspective, rather than relying on 7. Search for diverse investment inputs. Seek new Service Capacity Improve
past decisions. s Functionality
perspectives on products, services, and customer
requirements.

PG02 Pegasus Communications, Inc., 319 Littleton Road, Westford, MA 01886-4133 Adapted and reprinted with permission from “A Pocket Guide to Using the Archetypes,” The Systems Thinker®
Newsletter, Vol. 5 No. 4. Phone (781) 398-9700 • Fax (781) 894-7175 • www.pegasuscom.com. PG02