James Lyneis

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Engineering Systems Division, Adjunct

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Electric-utility strategies for the eighties: taking advantage of a ''window of opportunity

Does relief from demand-induced pressure to invest in costly base-load capacity present electric ... more Does relief from demand-induced pressure to invest in costly base-load capacity present electric utilities with a significant opportunity for renewed financial health. This, and the further question of what alternative strategies are best utilized for taking advantage of such opportunity as is found to exist, are addressed. The authors make use of a strategic planning model whose features were described

Feedback loops: the effect of external agents on utility performance

A strategic-planning model developed to represent the responses of external entities to utility a... more A strategic-planning model developed to represent the responses of external entities to utility actions through mechanisms commonly referred to as feedback loops is described in this article. The model has been used by the authors and others to test the effects of the reaction of external entities to an electric utility's decision making. The entities were specifically consumers, regulators, and

Communication The Design of Educational Programs in System Dynamics at

Educational programs leading to degrees in system dynamics are rare and thus of critical importan... more Educational programs leading to degrees in system dynamics are rare and thus of critical importance to the future of the field of system dynamics. However, to a large extent such programs have not yet been made transparent to the system dynamics community as a whole. The present article describes the design and rationale for undergraduate and graduate programs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The goal of the article is to invite feedback from the system dynamics community about our specific programs as well as to facilitate wider discussion about the appropriate content, design, and pedagogy of degree programs and courses in system dynamics.

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Learning to learn, from past to future

International Journal of Project Management, 2002

As we look from the past to the future of the field of project management, one of the great chall... more As we look from the past to the future of the field of project management, one of the great challenges is the largely untapped opportunity for transforming our projects&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27; performance. We have yet to discern how to systematically extract and disseminate management lessons as we move from project to project, and as we manage and execute portfolios of projects. As

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Design of a master of science degree program in system dynamics at WPI

Proceedings of the 27th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Albuquerque NM, Jul 1, 2009

Graduate degree programs in system dynamics are rare and thus of critical importance to the futur... more Graduate degree programs in system dynamics are rare and thus of critical importance to the future of the field of system dynamics. However, to a large extent such programs have not yet been made transparent to the system dynamics community as a whole. The present paper describes the design and rationale for one such program, WPI‟ s MS degree program in system dynamics. The goal of the paper is to invite feedback from the SD community about our specific program as well as to facilitate wider discussion about ...

System Dynamics Modeling in the Legal Arena: Special Challenges of the Expert Witness Role

In the late 1970s System Dynamics models began to be employed in legal disputes as a means of pro... more In the late 1970s System Dynamics models began to be employed in legal disputes as a means of proving and quantifying damages due from one party to another, and such use seems likely to increase in the future. But most System Dynamics practitioners are unfamiliar with the role of expert witness and the obligations and responsibilities associated with it. Admissibility of the would-be expert's testimony is now more significant a hurdle than ever, under recently established Supreme Court guidelines that lean heavily on the scientific method. Best-practice System Dynamics work adheres to the scientific method and should prove admissible. But many System Dynamics applications are carried out to less stringent standards that leave testimony based on that work vulnerable to being ruled inadmissible. Beyond admissibility, the process of preparing to deliver expert testimony based on System Dynamics presents unusual challenges for the practitioner. System Dynamics practitioners providi...

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Project Controls to Minimize Cost and Schedule Overruns: A Model, Research Agenda, and Initial Results

2007 International System …, 2007

... An underlying theory of the basic structures that create typical project behavior has emerged... more

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Can Models Capture the Complexity of the Systems Engineering Process?

Unifying Themes in Complex Systems, 2010

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System and Project Management

The course is designed for students in the System Design and Management (SDM) program and therefo... more The course is designed for students in the System Design and Management (SDM) program and therefore assumes that you already have a basic knowledge of project management. The objective is to introduce advanced methods and tools of project management in a realistic context such that they can be taken back to the workplace to improve management of development projects. In contrast to traditional courses on the subject we will emphasize scenarios that cannot be fully predicted such as task iterations, unplanned rework, perceived versus actual progress and misalignments between tasks, product architectures and organizations. This class was also offered in Course 13 (Department of Ocean Engineering) as 13.615J. In 2005, ocean engineering subjects became part of Course 2 (Department of Mechanical Engineering), and the 13.470J designation was retired

ESD. 36J/1.432 J System and Project Management, Fall 2003

In their unpublished work, Jockusch and Propp showed that a 2-enumeration of antisymmetric monoto... more In their unpublished work, Jockusch and Propp showed that a 2-enumeration of antisymmetric monotone triangles is given by a simple product formula. On the other hand, the author proved that the same formula counts the domino tilings of the quartered Aztec rectangle. In this paper, we explain this phenomenon directly by building a correspondence between the antisymmetric monotone triangles and domino tilings of the quartered Aztec rectangle.

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The impact of corporate financial policies on corporate growth and profitability

29th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society 2011 : Washington, DC, USA 24-28 July 2011

Corporate planning and policy design: A system dynamics approach

... Corporate planning and policy design: A system dynamics approach. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTOR... more

Learning to Learn, From Past to Future

International Journal of Project …, 2002

Project Controls to Minimize Cost and Schedule Overruns: A

System dynamics has been successfully applied to the study of projects for many years. While this... more System dynamics has been successfully applied to the study of projects for many years. While this modeling has clearly defined the structures which create project dynamics, it has been less helpful in providing explicit policy advice to managers to control project performance. To address this gap we examine the impact of three common project controls available to project managers to address deviations in project performance; (1) exerting pressure on project staff to work faster, (2) having staff work overtime, and/or (3) hiring additional staff. While the three project controls can have short-term benefits for project performance their long-term impacts can be detrimental. The current work presents preliminary results of the research, focusing on the impacts of the three project controls on project rework and the resulting schedule and budget performance. The work describes the development of project control feedback structures, the initial testing and use of a formal system dynamic...

The Application of System Dynamics to Project Management - Introduction to the Virtual Issue of System Dynamics Review

System dynamics has been successfully applied to project management for many years. This work sta... more System dynamics has been successfully applied to project management for many years. This work started in the 1960s, and continues to this day. By our count, more than 120 books, journal articles, and conference papers have in some way dealt with such applications. The application of system dynamics to project management can be viewed through three lenses. First, generic project structures have been developed that capture fundamental project dynamics and are common to all projects. These include the rework cycle and the feedback structures related to rework/errors and productivity. Second, project dynamics theory has been, and continues to be, developed to consider additional dynamics that are common to categories of projects or specific projects. Examples include model structures of concurrency in projects, interactions between projects (e.g., resources and technical interdependencies), and interactions between development efforts and other resource needs, such as for maintenance an...

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Two Loops, Three Loops, or Four Loops: Pedagogic Issues in Explaining Epidemic Dynamics

How many feedback loops, and of what type, control the behavior of an epidemic? A search of the l... more How many feedback loops, and of what type, control the behavior of an epidemic? A search of the literature discovered two-, three-, and four-loop versions of the basic epidemic model in introductory system dynamics materials. How can the same behavior be explained with such different feedback structures? Can they all be right? This paper analyzes the three basic model structures and discusses implications for system dynamics pedagogy. We conclude that either the two- or four-loop versions of the basic epidemic model are acceptable representations, with the two-loop version recommended for beginners; the three-loop version of the system is never correct. In addition, we suggest that the development of incorrect representations such as the three-loop epidemic model can be avoided if standard system dynamics modeling practice is followed - formulating a dynamic hypothesis to explain the observed behavior.

A New Strategic Model for Electric Utilities

IEEE Power Engineering Review, 1984

located on the mid-Columbia River and consists of five dams with a combined peaking capability of... more located on the mid-Columbia River and consists of five dams with a combined peaking capability of nearly 4,500 MW. Each of the dams has one owner, but 2 to 13 utilities have rights to generation at each dam. Therefore, each of the five dams is effectively jointly owned. To gain the necessary control, upstream Federally-owned dams, one with a large amount of storage and one run-of-the

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Managing the maturity structure : the short-term -- long-term decision

ESD.36J / 1.432J System and Project Management, Fall 2003

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