Tag Archives: systems thinking

Chain Reaction

No, nothing to do with an old Diana Ross track, but the title of a presentation I gave at the UK’s first ever TEDx policing event in Leeds yesterday – #OldBillRebuilt, ably organised by Gareth Stubbs. Hopefully, the footage will be … Continue reading

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Freeze Frame

Watching the TV programme ‘The Force’ last night (which follows the work of officers from Greater Manchester Police), I thought of yet another analogy to help explain why binary comparisons are rubbish. (Yes, I know I go on about this, … Continue reading

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Short Circuit

This is Stick Boss. Stick Boss is basically a good guy who cares about his organisation and wants the best for people. Unfortunately, he has a problem with his brain. This means that just as he’s on the cusp of … Continue reading

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Maths Class

Here’s Stick Teacher. Today Stick Teacher is going to run through a few sums with the Stick Children. Adults might find his case studies useful too. Stick Teacher is going to demonstrate how to save money whilst providing a better service – what’s … Continue reading

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The Wrong Conversation

Stick Child has been getting increasingly irritated by the slack methods some adults use to present information about really important stuff, such as how long it takes for patients to be seen in Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments. Many a … Continue reading

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A Tale of Two Kings

At bedtime, Stick Child’s Daddy often reads his son a story from his favourite story book, “Medieval Stories from Stick Kingdom with an Inevitable Systems Thinking Moral”. One recent story they particularly enjoyed was called “A Tale of Two Kings”, which … Continue reading

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Stick Child and The Fraggles

Recently, Stick Child was watching the television channel ‘Stick Gold’, when he came across an episode of the 1980s children’s show, Fraggle Rock. If you’re about the same age as Stick Child’s Daddy, you may well remember it too. Fraggle … Continue reading

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It’s Criminal

I’ve been meaning to get around to writing about the issue of using crime figures as an indicator of police performance for a while now. Aside from the risk of mis-recording crime due to target-driven performance management, I believe there … Continue reading

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Find The Treasure

“It’s just the starting point for asking questions”. That’s what I often hear people say about this sort of thing. (Look at all the pretty colours). Well, it’s not. And the questions are usually the wrong questions, asked of the … Continue reading

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The Real Thing

Have a look at these three handguns… (Glock 17s to be precise): One is real. One fires plastic balls. One fires blanks. Which is which though? Can you tell which is the real one? Even upon handling them in real … Continue reading

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