Gall’s Law and The Model for Improvement

I learned about John Gall’s work on systems last week, reading a November 2018 blog post by David Carboni, “The Paradox of Scale:  Netflix couldn’t build Netflix.”

Gall published three editions of his work on systems. The third edition is The Systems Bible:  The Beginner’s Guide to Systems Large and Small (2002), General Systemantics Press, Walker Minnesota.    

Gall’s observations and discussion are heavy on word-play, starting with the name of his theory, Systemantics.   Systemantics alludes to Alfred Korzybski’s General Semantics* as well as a pun, ‘System antics’.  If you don’t find this style of writing appealing, you might pass on reading Gall’s original and get a taste of Gall’s work from the Wikipedia summary, here.

The Systems Bible is a catalog of system stories and observations; Gall offers a natural history of system behaviors that provoke my thinking.

While almost every page of The Systems Bible contains at least one axiom, empirical tendency or law (always in caps), Carboni’s blog discussed one statement that has become known as Gall’s Law:

A COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT WORKS IS INVARIABLY FOUND TO HAVE EVOLVED FROM A SIMPLE SYSTEM THAT WORKED.

Gall follows this statement with a further proposition.

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.

(p. 63 The Systems Bible).

Gall’s Law drives Carboni’s statement that Netflix as a system today could not be built in one step, even by a company with all the resources that Netflix currently commands.

Passive or Active Evolution?

Gall’s Law says that a complex system that works has evolved from a simple system that worked.

By ‘works’, we mean that the system achieves its intended purpose.

How can we establish a simple system that works and increase the odds of successful evolution to a larger, more complex system that will provide useful services?

Gall said: “…the mechanism by which the transition from working simple System to working complex System takes place is not known.  Few areas offer greater potential reward for truly first-rate research.” (p. 64, The System Bible)

The Model for Improvement developed by Associates in Process Improvement has the ingredients we need to both create simple systems and to drive purposeful systems evolution.

The Model for Improvement asks us to clarify aim, define measurements, and identify changes to get closer to the aim.  It advises us to test the changes using the discipline of Plan, Do, Study, and Act.   

Start your tests on a small scale, build your belief incrementally.   What is the smallest system that you can build that will inform your understanding?

With a small, working system, more tests under different conditions can help you learn how to adapt and create a more comprehensive system.

Small Steps are usually Safer

Compared to large steps, small steps are more likely to enable safe passage through an uncertain and slippery landscape.    Our icy streets and sidewalks this January in Wisconsin remind me of this advice daily.

You can make progress in an icy landscape so long as you keep walking, with each step small and with attention to the path ahead.

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*Korzybski taught us that ‘the map is not the territory’, discussed in this post.