I have long made use of a concept I’ve called “The Solution Path” and at other times called “The Achievement Path.”
In a nutshell, it is the path that leads from our actions through whatever network of variables exists out there that contains (1) Accessible Variables - those we can affect through direct, immediate action, (2) Target Variable - the variable whose value we wish to align with some specified value, (3) Driver Variables - those variables that directly affect the Target Variable an (4) Connecting Variables - those variables that link Accessible Variables to Driver Variables.
It occurs to me that in terms of the formal PCT model, that what I’m talking about is the “Feedback Function.” What I call “Actions” are what the PCT model shows as Output Quantity. What I call the “Target Variable” is what the model shows as Input Quantity. And what I call Accessible, Connecting an Driver variables, constitute what the model shows as the “Feedback Function.”
FN: I have long made use of a concept I’ve called “The Solution Path” and at other times called “The Achievement Path.”
FN: In a nutshell, it is the path that leads from our actions through whatever network of variables exists out there…
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FN: It occurs to me that in terms of the formal PCT model, that what I’m talking about is the “Feedback Function.” …
RM: Yes, if it’s the path that leads from system output to controlled input (through whatever network of variables exists out there) it’s the feedback path. But I don’t like calling it the “Solution Path” or “Achievement Path” because it implies that once one has discovered a feedback connection between output and input they have achieved success, but they haven’t. They still have to learn how to control the input. Finding the feedback path is necessary to achieving control – you can’t control if you can’t affect the controlled variable – but it is not sufficient (you still have to learn to “use” that connection.Â
RM: For example, a computer is the feedback path between my finger movements and the programs I want to write to demonstrate PCT. Without the computer I couldn’t produce (control for) those programs. But just having this feedback connection between my finger movements and the programs didn’t mean that I could then successfully control for those programs. I had to learn how to press the keys of the computer in the right way so that the result would be a program that works. So the feedback path is necessary but not sufficient for success at programming.Â
Best regards
Rick
Â
···
Richard S. MarkenÂ
"Perfection is achieved not when you have nothing more to add, but when you
have nothing left to take away.�
                --Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Rick has here a very good point, I think. But still you could use the expression solution path or achievement path or even success path if you add to the external variables and their causal connections the output effects of the controller
when the control success. It could be like Rick says that there are those same variables available but the controller cannot utilize them - and then there is no achievement.
For me it feels more natural to speak about links and chains or networks than paths and variables….
Eetu
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[Rick Marken 2018-11-18_15:15:59]
From Fred Nickols (2018.11.18.1539 ET)
FN: I have long made use of a concept I’ve called “The Solution Path” and at other times called “The Achievement Path.”
FN: In a nutshell, it is the path that leads from our actions through whatever network of variables exists out there…
FN: It occurs to me that in terms of the formal PCT model, that what I’m talking about is the “Feedback Function.” …
RM: Yes, if it’s the path that leads from system output to controlled input (through whatever network of variables exists out there) it’s the feedback path. But I don’t like calling it the “Solution Path” or “Achievement Path” because it
implies that once one has discovered a feedback connection between output and input they have achieved success, but they haven’t. They still have to learn how to control the input. Finding the feedback path is necessary to achieving control – you can’t control
if you can’t affect the controlled variable – but it is not sufficient (you still have to learn to “use” that connection.
RM: For example, a computer is the feedback path between my finger movements and the programs I want to write to demonstrate PCT. Without the computer I couldn’t produce (control for) those programs. But just having this feedback connection
between my finger movements and the programs didn’t mean that I could then successfully control for those programs. I had to learn how to press the keys of the computer in the right way so that the result would be a program that works. So the feedback path
is necessary but not sufficient for success at programming.
Best regards
Rick
Does that make sense?
Regards,
Fred Nickols
Managing Partner
Distance Consulting LLC
“Assistance at A Distance”
–
Richard S. Marken
"Perfection is achieved not when you have nothing more to add, but when you
Chains or more precisely âcausal chainsâ? are another way of thinking about it, Eetu.
By definition the controller(s) can affect the variables in the causal chain or it would not constitute a solution or achievement path.
My May and August Knowledge Worker columns set out a description of Achievement Path and an illustrative example. If you are interested you can find them at https://www.nickols.us/PerfExpress.html.Â
···
Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting LLC
âAssistance at A Distanceâ? www.nickols.us