The WOPRS Organization Model

jpreston.xyz

28 points·wcerfgba··9 comments

Searched the article in vain for any reference to management cybernetics or the viable system model (VSM). The models referenced here are fine as far as they go, but in the end they’re not much more than bullet points, lacking somewhat in interesting structure.

Video of my recent webinar on a model integrating VSM with things more familiar to people in product development: https://blog.agendashift.com/2021/09/10/up-and-down-the-deli...

Thanks for the pointer to VSM, I've not come across that before! I will probably update the essay at some point when I've had more feedback and started playing around with the ideas more.

As for the other mentioned models, I mainly just wanted to define their factors so I could show how WOPRS relates to these models, rather than providing a thorough treatment of those models in my essay: there is plenty already written about them and I've included some authoritative sources in the references. :)

Fair enough, and I’m a collector of these things myself! I’m easy enough to find if you have questions

This is a joke, right?

For context: “whopper” can mean “a big lie” and the malignant malfunctioning computer in War Games was called W.O.P.R., for “war operations plan response.”

It's not a joke but yes, I am aware that the name is amusing ;)

First thing that came to my mind was the War Games computer too. How can one not think to that as a reference?

why was it malfunctioning? it was doing just as it was programmed to do, learning. maybe in certain circles it might be called malfunctioning on trying to better oneself by learning new things, but around here, it's actually encouraged.

Paperclip maximiser.

Very strange game. It seems the only winning move is not to play.

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