Viable System Model (VSM)

A large diagram: at the left the environment drawn as nested outlines of markets, customers and competitors; at the right five numbered systems in boxes and triangles joined by lines. Titled Viable System Model, Stafford Beer. — Mark Lambertz, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Stafford Beer's Viable System Model, inspired by the human nervous system, explains how autonomous systems stay viable through feedback, self-regulation and adaptation, and is cited as evidence for the value of cybernetic principles in organizational design.

Beer's framework, inspired by the human nervous system, for how any autonomous adaptive system maintains viability through feedback loops, self-regulation and adaptation; the book cites it as evidence of the power of cybernetic principles for designing resilient organisations.

In the Framework

Cybernetics · concept
Elasticity and the Law of Requisite Variety · concept

In the book

Chapter 5, section 046 · Pioneers of Systemic Application in Design

Methods