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stevegrossi

stocks and flows

Tended 2 years ago (1 time) Planted 3 years ago Mentioned 5 times

Contents

Alongside Causal loop diagrams, another way to model the outward behavior and internal state of a system is with stocks (also called “accumulators”) and flows (also called “rates”)

  • Stocks are anything than can be accumulate and be measured: the temperature (amount of heat) in a room, the balance in a bank account, or even abstract concepts like “customer satisfaction” (which are often measured with a net-promoter score).
  • Flows are things that change the level of a stock. For example, a bathtub has a stock of water and two flows—the inflow of water from the faucet and the outflow of water from its drain—whose rates determine the stock (or level) of water in the tub.

Further Reading

Mentions

  • calculus

    …rate and how much that thing builds up over time" ([[stocks and flows]]!) "the reason why integration is so much harder than differentiation…

  • Stress

    …more energy, excitement, and enthusiasm tomorrow" ## Reducing Stress - As the [[stocks and flows]] modeler knows, reducing the effects (outflow) of stress is a…

  • systems thinking

    …the behavior of a system can often be modeled as [[stocks and flows]]. ## Resources - [thesystemsthinker.com](https://thesystemsthinker.com/), especially their [Introduction to…