Modelos e a sua utilização e compreensão

"Maps (Moi ici: modelos) are valuable for a variety of reasons. One reason is that they leave out a lot of unnecessary details. In so doing, they minimize distractions and allow us to focus on the questions that we most care about. Good maps are those that have just barely enough details"
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"As we successively add more overlays, the map gains more and more detail at a cost of more distractions and difficulty disentangling useful connections. Each time we add an unnecessary overlay, the map loses some of its value. Eventually, the map becomes so complex that it is easier to abandon the stack of overlays and just use the real world itself. Good modeling requires that we have just enough of the “right” transparencies in the map. Of course, the right transparencies depend on the needs of a particular user.
Another desirable feature of a map is that it is easily understandable to others."
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"Good maps not only allow us to predict key features of the world, but they also enable us to discover new phenomena."
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"The success of a particular model is tied to its ability to capture the behavior of the real world."
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"A model requires choices of both the equivalence classes and the transition function, and the art of modeling lies in judicious choices of both. For any given real-world problem, there are likely to be multiple equivalence mappings (and associated transition functions) that will result in homomorphisms. The value of any particular set of choices depends on the current needs of the modeler. (Moi ici: E quantas vezes é que o modelador está a par do que os gestores pretendem fazer com o mapa/modelo) Moreover, the difficulty of discovering the model’s transition function will be closely tied to the chosen equivalence mapping, and thus modelers must make trade-offs between these two elements."
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Este trecho, retirado de Complex Adaptive Systems" de John Miller e Scott Page, deixa-me a pensar... se os gestores não interiorizarem bem os conceitos de mapa da estratégia (um modelo) e de balanced scorecard (outro modelo), ou de mapa dos processos (outro modelo)... we have a problem. Porque:

• Não existem modelos perfeitos ou modelos adequados desligados do uso que se pretende fazer deles.

 Assim, a tarefa número 1 é perceber o que querem os gestores... ou, até onde têm capacidade de ir. É preferível ser menos ambicioso de início e evoluir gradualmente.