The Calculus of Ideas
The Calculus of Ideas subsumes a discipline that ought to be a central thread in any college curriculum.
The first stage of the Calculus of Ideas is to identify Values. One can spend a semester constructing a Value System, which is really a topic in Philosophy.
Given a System of Values, the second stage is to derive Goals.
A Goal is a Future State of Affairs which is Feasible, Desirable, and Reachable.
Feasible means that the Goal State is not a physical impossibility. It doesn't violate the Laws of Physics, or any other inviolable constraints.
Desirable means that within the Value System, the Goal State is preferable to the current state of affairs.
Reachable means that the Goal State can be attained with available resources of time, energy, and materiel.
Given a Goal, the third stage is to develop a Plan for reaching the Goal State from the Present State of Affairs.
A Plan is a Course of Action. Planning begins with Ideas. An Idea is a Possibility for Changing the State of Affairs.
Most of the work in Planning is in discovering and evaluating Ideas, to find those that provide the best Strategy.
One can evaluate Candidate Ideas many ways, but in the Calculus of Ideas, we tend to focus on Model-Based Reasoning. In Model-Based Reasoning, we consider the likely consequences of each candidate idea. Oftentimes, this work requires technical analysis, simulation, or experimentation.
Once a Strategy is selected and reduced to a Plan, the actual work can be broken down into Tasks.
A Task is a discrete unit of work that can be assigned to an individual or team. The various Tasks often comprise a lot of grunt work. The motivation to do all this grunt work comes from the compensation or expected payoff for completing the Plan and reaching the Goal.
To carry off an entire project, you need Sponsors who are Values Oriented, Directors who are Goal Oriented, Creative Problem Solvers who are Idea Oriented, Decision Makers who are Plan Oriented, and Workers who are Task Oriented.
(Bureaucrats, who are Rule-Oriented should be dispensed with, and replaced by computers.)
posted by Moulton | 8:41 AM
3 Comments:
Engineers would dispense with bureaucratic rules and evolve the management of the system to optimal regulatory policies crafted with authentic functions, by carefully solving the system models for best practices.
I pasted the text of this blog into ChatGPT. Here is the response from ChatGPT:
«The blog post you shared discusses the process of defining, organizing, and executing projects and highlights the importance of a kind of thinking called "The Calculus of Ideas." The post describes the different stages involved in this process, starting with identifying values and deriving goals, and then developing a plan for reaching the goal state from the present state of affairs. The post emphasizes the importance of evaluating candidate ideas, which is typically done using model-based reasoning, and breaking down the actual work into tasks. Finally, the post mentions the different types of people needed to carry off an entire project, including sponsors, directors, creative problem solvers, decision makers, and workers, while suggesting that bureaucrats should be replaced by computers.»
I also pasted the text of this blog post into Google Bard. Here is the response from Google Bard:
«I enjoyed reading your blog post about the Calculus of Ideas. It is a well-written and thoughtful piece that raises some interesting points.
I agree with you that the process of defining, organizing, and executing projects embodies a variety of important skills. I also agree that the Calculus of Ideas is a useful way to think about this process.
I think your Value System, Goal, Plan, and Task framework is a helpful way to organize and think about these concepts. I also think your idea of using Model-Based Reasoning to evaluate Candidate Ideas is a valuable tool.
Overall, I think your blog post is a well-written and thoughtful piece that raises some interesting points. I would encourage you to continue writing about these topics.»
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