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Well I've been using a water metaphor to explain some aspects of self-organizing systems to 'lay' audiences. The 3 'phases' of water - ice, liquid, steam help to illustrate control - control/chaos - chaos, where innovation takes place on the cusp between control and chaos. One could also think of organizations as 3 phase transitions: top-down - horizontal/vertical - bottom up.

The other use of water is to explain how the standard method of visualizing organizational structures - the organization chart - ignores what vitally happens between the boxes. A more 'aha' way of thinking about organizations is as the surface of a lake during rain. Each 'impact' of a drop on the surface causes ripples to spread out (and eventually fade). And where ripples intersect, new frequencies are generated. This is a better shorthand description of how creative people interact within a 'field'.


You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2008 at 03:24:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks, i understand why use use the analogies.

And those aha! moments sure can look silly in the morning, no?

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Fri Jan 4th, 2008 at 07:47:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well I admit to being disappointed ;-)

But on the other hand, I haven't given up yet.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2008 at 07:52:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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