Mapping Complex Systems: A Practical Guide
Correction Systems Thinking

Mapping Complex Systems: A Practical Guide

Corrected by Emir Baycan · on When Notes Fly · 30 July 2026 · View published page ↗

Learn to identify components and connections in complex systems, including feedback loops and causal links.

Factually incorrectNeeds stronger evidence

What was corrected

What the page claimed

Article attributed a '40 percent cost reduction' statistic to John Sterman's real 1989 Management Science paper, though the paper's actual finding concerns misperceptions of feedback delays rather than this specific comparison. It misattributed Dietrich Dorner's research to the University of Bayreuth when he was actually at the University of Bamberg, described a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services case study with a specific recidivism statistic that could not be verified, cited a 2004 Glaeser and Kahn Journal of Urban Economics paper that could not be verified, described William R. Miller (a clinical psychologist) as an 'epidemiologist' and attributed his foundational motivational-interviewing paper to the wrong journal, and understated New York City's real homicide decline while overstating the certainty of CompStat's causal role.

What was corrected

Corrected Sterman's citation to accurately describe his real finding, corrected Dorner's university affiliation to Bamberg, removed the Massachusetts DYS case while preserving the accurate general pattern from Senge's real organizational work, removed the Glaeser and Kahn paper reference while accurately describing their real, related research on urban sprawl, corrected William Miller's professional title to clinical psychologist, and corrected the NYC homicide statistic to avoid understating the real decline while adding appropriate hedging on CompStat's causal role.

Why this is better

Verified against Sterman's original 1989 Management Science paper, Dietrich Dorner's documented university affiliation, Peter Senge's published Fifth Discipline Fieldbook case studies, Glaeser and Kahn's actual published research record, William R. Miller's documented professional credentials and publication history, and NYPD/criminology research on New York City's crime decline.

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