connection-circles
Skill3 starsChanged 6 months agoMITView on GitHub
Use connection circles to map cause-and-effect relationships and identify feedback loops in a system. Use when analyzing interacting variables, product dynamics, support load, customer behavior, or systemic side effects.
In this repository23 other files it gives its agents.
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The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
2 rules. About 0 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈2
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 19
Start with a circle on paper
- Distinctive: line 24
Write elements around the circle (limit to 10)
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Connection Circles
Overview
Type of Tool: Systems Thinking Tool
Purpose: Understand relationships and identify feedback loops within systems
How to Create a Connection Circle
Steps
- Start with a circle on paper
- Identify key system elements:
- Important to system changes
- Can increase or decrease
- Described by a noun
- Write elements around the circle (limit to 10)
- Map cause and effect relationships:
- Draw arrows between elements
- Indicate increases ("+") or decreases ("-")
- Find cause-and-effect relationships
- Identify closed feedback loops
Example Scenario
Context: Product with unhappy customers experiencing bugs and slow support
Key Elements
- Unhappy customers
- Bugs in product
- Response times
- Support tickets
- New features
Mapping Relationships
The connection circle helps visualize how these elements interact, showing:
- More support tickets lead to longer response times
- Longer response times create more unhappy customers
- New features attempt to reduce unhappy customers
- New features can also introduce more bugs
Benefits
- Understand system complexity
- Visualize cause-and-effect relationships
- Identify reinforcing and balancing feedback loops
Resources
- Systems Thinker article on Connection Circles
- Worksheet available in Untools Vault
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