Skip to main content
Log in

The seven habits of highly defective simulation projects

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Simulation

Abstract

Seven classes of persistent mistake are identified and described, based on the author's 20 years’ experience of making mistakes in simulation modelling. The errors identified are trifle-worship, belief in answers, connectionism, the black box mistake, methodolatry, the dead fish fallacy, and the Jehovah problem. Each is discussed in turn. It is expected that fellow practitioners will recognize many of these mistakes, and hoped that this paper will help to avoid repeating them.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • De Grace P and Hulet Stahl L (1990). Wicked Problems, Righteous Solutions. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleindorfer GB and Ganeshan R (1993). The philosophy of science and validation in simulation. In: Evans GW, Mollaghasemi M, Russell EC and Biles WE (eds). Proceedings of the 25th Winter Simulation Conference, Los Angeles, CA, ACM Press: New York, pp 50–57.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Landels JG (1978). Engineering in the Ancient World. Chatto & Windus: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod J (1982). Computer Modeling and Simulation: Principles of Good Practice. Society for Computer Simulation (SCS): La Jolla, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piatelli-Palmarini M (1994). Inevitable Illusions. Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pidd M (1993). Tools for Thinking. Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raymond ES (1993). The New Hacker's Dictionary. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell EC (1983). Building Simulation Models with SIMSCRIPT II.5. CACI: Los Angeles, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salt JD (1993). Simulation should be easy and fun! In: Evans GW, Mollaghasemi M, Russell EC and Biles WE (eds). Proceedings of the 25th Winter Simulation Conference, Los Angeles, CA, ACM Press: New York, pp 1–5.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Senge PM (1990). The Fifth Discipline. Doubleday: New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterman JD (1991). A Skeptic's guide to computer models. In: Barney GO (ed). Managing the Nation. Westview Press: Boulder, CO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taleb NN (2001). Fooled by Randomness. Thompson Texere: New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SJE et al (2004). Panel on future challenges in modeling methodology. In: Ingalls RJ, Rosetti MD, Smith JS and Peters BA (eds). Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference, Washington DC, ACM Press: New York, pp 327–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolk A and Muguira JA (2003). The levels of conceptual interperability model. 2003 Fall Simulation Interoperability Workshop, Orlando, FL.

  • Weinberg GM (1975). An Introduction to Systems Thinking. Dorset House: New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolsey RED (2003). You too can use operational research! In: Hewitt RL (ed). Real World Operations Research. Lionheart Publishing: Marietta, GA, pp 42–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zachman JA (1987). A framework for information systems architecture. IBM Systems Journal 26(3), IBM Publication G321-5298.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J D Salt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Salt, J. The seven habits of highly defective simulation projects. J Simulation 2, 155–161 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/jos.2008.7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jos.2008.7

Keywords

Navigation