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John Gall
13 quotes
“There is a world of difference, psychologically speaking, between the passive observation that Things Don't Work Out Very Well, and the active, penetrating insight that. Complex Systems Exhibit Unexpected Behavior.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 33 cited in: Stanley A. Clayes, David Gelvin Spencer, Martin S. Stanford (1979) Contexts for composition. p. 94
“The Aswan Dam, built at enormous expense to improve the lot of the Egyptian peasant, has caused the Nile to deposit its fertilizing sediment in Lake Nasser, where it is unavailable. Egyptian fields must now be artificially fertilized. Gigantic fertilizer plants have been built to meet the new need. The plants require enormous amounts of electricity. The dam must operate at capacity merely to supply the increased need for electricity which was created by the building of the dam”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 18. Cited in: Harvey J. Bertcher (1988) Staff development in human service organizations. p. 45
“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 65, cited in: Grady Booch (1991) Object oriented design with applications. p. 11
“A selective process goes on, whereby systems attract and keep those people whose attributes are such as to make them adapted to life in the system: Systems attract systems-people.”
John Gall (1925–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.”
John Gall (1925–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A system represents someone's solution to a problem. The system doesn't solve the problem.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 74 Cited in: Roger Kaufman and Fenwick W. English (1979) Needs Assessment: Concept and Application, p. 94
“A complex system can fail in an infinite number of ways”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 92, cited in: Erik Hollnagel (2004) Barriers and accident prevention. p. 182
“Loose systems last longer and function better.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 93. cited: Paul F. Downton (2008) Ecopolis: Architecture and Cities for a Changing Climate. p. 580
“The system always kicks back. — Systems get in the way— or, in slightly more elegant language: Systems tend to oppose their own proper functions. Systems tend to malfunction conspicuously just after their greatest triumph.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 27 cited in: Kevin Kelly (1988) Signal: communication tools for the information age. p. 7
“Even Toynbee, floundering through his massive survey of 20-odd civilizations, was finally able to discern only that: Systems tend to malfunction conspicuously just after their greatest triumph. Toynbee explains this effect by pointing out the strong tendency to apply a previously successful strategy to the new challenge.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 35 cited in: Kevin Kelly (1988) Signal: communication tools for the information age. p. 7
“The field of Architecture has given rise to a second major principle relating to the Life Cycle of Systems. This principle has emerged from the observation that temporary buildings erected to house Navy personnel in World War I continued to see yeoman service in World War II as well as in subsequent ventures, and are now a permanent, if fading, feature of Constitution Avenue in Washington... We conclude: A temporary patch will very likely be permanent.”
John Gall (1925–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But how does it come about, step by step, that some complex Systems actually function? This question, to which we as students of General Systemantics attach the highest importance, has not yet yielded to intensive modern methods of investigation and analysis. As of this writing, only a limited and partial breakthrough can be reported, as follows: A COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT WORKS IS INVARIABLY FOUND TO HAVE EVOLVED FROM A SIMPLE SYSTEM THAT WORKED”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 65 cited in "Quotes from Systemantics – Funny, But Scary Too" Posted on agileadvice.com March 3, 2006 by Mishkin Berteig. This quote was mentioned in General systemantics (1975, p. 71)
“Systems Are Seductive. They promise to do a hard job faster, better, and more easily than you could do it by yourself. But if you set up a system, you are likely to find your time and effort now being consumed in the care and feeding of the system itself. New problems are created by its very presence. Once set up, it won't go away, it grows and encroaches. It begins to do strange and wonderful things. Breaks down in ways you never thought possible. It kicks back, gets in the way, and opposes its own proper function. Your own perspective becomes distorted by being in the system. You become anxious and push on it to make it work. Eventually you come to believe that the misbegotten product it so grudgingly delivers is what you really wanted all the time. At that point encroachment has become complete. You have become absorbed. You are now a systems person.”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 90 as cited in: Robert B. Seidensticker (2006) Future Hype: The Myths of Technology Change. p. 45