Abstract for: What Jay Didn't Tell Us: Hidden Gems in the System Dynamics Practices of Jay W. Forrester

The works of the founder of our field, Jay W. Forrester, are numerous and deep. Beginning with Industrial Dynamics (1961) he was showing us and telling us how to take a stock-and-flow/feedback perspective to understand the dynamics of complex systems. He told us a lot. Even in that path-breaking first book, he has an appendix on Beginners' Difficulties, telling us bits and pieces of how to do good work in the field and how to avoid pitfalls. Yet there is a lot that Jay knew -- what he did, what he wanted us to know -- that he did not explicitly tell us. Or if he did tell us, we missed some of it. This note reveals a few of Jay's insightful bits of genius he practiced but didn't talk about or write down, that have emerged for me over the years.