Re: Linear Thinking

[Rip Stauffer <ripstaur@vabch.com>]

David Kerridge said, "Both on and off the DEN, I have recently met the
expression "linear thinking". Unfortunately, I don't know what it
means." 

I may be one of the guilty parties.  I sometimes use that expression,
but not strictly to describe pre-Shewhart mechanistic thinking.  I use
it more in the sense of de Bono's "vertical thinking," or in the sense
of Senge's description of not understanding a system because we think
linearly.  

The example Senge gives is that of filling a glass with water.  He
contends that our language is structured linearly, and thus structures
our thinking linearly.  We say (and think), "I am filling a glass with
water."  We don't generally say (or think), "The level of water in the
glass is controlling the position and movement of my hand on the
spigot," although from a systems view it is just as accurate.

I know not what others may mean by that expression.  This is my meaning.

Rip Stauffer
Naval Leader Training Unit
ripstaur@vabch.com
========================================================================