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Shifting between strategic patterns: transmission systems and gearing
Global Coherence by Interrelating Disparate Strategic Patterns Dynamically (Part #16)
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The fixation with particular patterns of strategies, whether the Sustainable Development Goals or the Millennium Development Goals, detracts attention from the possible need to shift between patterns according to circumstances. There is considerable familiarity with this need in terms of the mechanics of the variety of transmission systems, gearing and gearboxes. Arguably there is a uni-modal trap to be avoided. A case can be made for "conceptual gearboxes", possibly understood through other metaphors (The Future of Comprehension: conceptual birdcages and functional basket-weaving, 1980). The argument may be relevant to use of a succession of distinct patterns of strategies in the case of project "startups", the related startup ecosystem, and the notion of "gearing up".
Following the argument above, some sense of this can be presented through a set of crown polyhedra, as in the following animations using patterns from 2-fold to 20-fold. Those on the left derive from a model that is is not closed like a polyhedron, as it has edges that only lie on one face and can take the form of visible gaps.
| Indicative presentations of strategic patterns from 2-fold to 20-fold using animation suggestive of a transmission system | |||
| Crown polyhedra based on triangles | Crown polyhedra based on quadrilaterals | ||
| Polar view | Side view | Polar view | Side view |
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| Individual 3D Images generated by Antiprism (freely downloaded) | |||
| Command line instruction for their generation for interactive 3D viewing as VRML files (change NN to number required, eg 8 or 16) polygon crown 4 -A 2 | to_nfold NN | off_color -f U | off2vrml -o crownNN.wrl | Command line instruction for their generation for interactive 3D viewing in Antiprism (change NN to number required, eg 8 or 16): polygon crown 4 -A 2 | to_nfold NN | off_color -f U | antiview | ||
Other mnemonic aids may be sought by associating orb and sceptre, as closely related symbols of integrative governance -- together with the crown. The argument with respect to the sceptre and its continuing symbolic importance (most obviously in the coordination of marching bands) is presented separately, from which the animations below are reproduced (Imagining local-global connectivity through innovative mace and vajra design, 2019). In the form of the globus cruciger, the orb has long been a symbol of authority. Of interest here, as illustrated by the following, is how such symbols could be related to comprehension of the integration of disparate strategies by rendering them in dynamic form. The mace/sceptre is of some relevance to the primary axis of symmetry of the crown, as discussed above with respect to the 16 (+1) Sustainable Development Goals. In that sense it can be understood as the central axis of any orb-like presentation.
| Use of traditional symbols of sovereignty and governance as mnemonic aids | ||
| "Sceptre" animation | "Orbs": using symmetry indications in an animation of crown polyhedra: 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20-fold | "Sceptre" animation |
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| Individual 3D Images generated by Antiprism | ||
Arguably there is a need for a mnemonic aid to the relationship between N-fold patterns, as is somewhat ironically suggested by the following Christmas song, used over centuries, whether or not it can be understood as having various levels of meaning, as explored by David Emery (Does "The Twelve Days of Christmas" Have a Hidden Meaning? Liveaboutdotcom, 18 July 2018). Clearly the pattern in the song on the left would need to be extended from 12 to 20, to encompass the 15-fold and 16-fold patterns mentioned above.
Of interest with respect to the gear metaphor, a bicycle may have 16 to 18 usable gear ratios. A truck may have 10 or more gears (9, 10, 13, 15 and 18 Gears - Shifting Theory | Drive Truck, Smart Drive; How to Shift an 18 Speed Transmission like a Pro, Smart-Trucking, 7 December 2018; How to use an 18-Speed Roadranger, TruckSales, 16 August 2018). Is the current global strategic challenge to be compared to this description of driving a 15-speed truck:
Now I'll just touch on what a 15-speed is for a moment. If you get in a truck and it's got a blue button in it, it's a 15-speed. Now this is not a splitter in a 15-speed transmission. This is what is called deep reduction. And the best way to explain deep reduction on a 15-speed is that essentially you've got three tiers of five gears. Five gears way down in the basement, five gears on the main level, and five gears upstairs. Most of the time you're going to drive a 15-speed like a ten-speed. 1,2,3,4,5, flip up the range selector, back over to low - and for those of us who drive 13s and 18s and then get into 15- that's very weird for us to go back to low - but back to low 1,2,3,4,5 shift it like a ten-speed.
Now if you get into a gravel pit or something like that you need deep reduction, the best way to understand deep reduction in a 15-speed is like four-wheel drive low and four-wheel-drive hi. That's the difference. And it's not sequential, so if you're in deep reduction in 15-speed you can't go one, two, three, four, five and then split up to the next gear and go the other five. It's more like up to five in the low low and then up to three on the next level. So it's a little bit strange, but if you ever get into a 15-speed, just kind of play around with it and you'll get use to it. But know that if the splitter is blue it's a 15-speed; if it's red, it's 13; and if it's grey, it's 18. And in this day and age of non-synchronous transmissions, most of them are going to be 18-speeds. (9, 10, 13, 15 and 18 Gears - Shifting Theory)
Automobiles have a variety of relatively simple gear shift patterns with which many are familiar. Whilst there is considerable familiarity with shifting between many gears in vehicles of different types, this familiarity would appear to be totally lacking in the case of strategic patterns. It could be imagined that truck drivers have mnemonic aids with respect to learning the complex gear shift patterns, as shown below-centre. Curiously, however, there are many references to the "Truck Driver's Gear Change" as descriptive of modulation in music -- but not as a mnemonic device.
What appears to be required is some recognition of the value of the set of contrasting "strategic gears" as a whole (8-fold, 12-fold, 15-fold). The metaphor is also suggestive with respect to the relation between the strategies in any set -- as is so evident in driving a 15-gear truck. Driving in one gear only would be considered ridiculous. The question would then be what are the analogues to enable shifting between strategic patterns according to circumstances -- or to shifting between strategies within any one such pattern (as suggested below right).
| Mnemonic aids to a set of contrasting strategic patterns? | ||
| As suggested by a well-known song? | As suggested by a gear shift pattern in trucks | Single pattern: UN SDGs as "strategic gears" ? |
| On the 12th day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 12 drummers drumming 11 pipers piping 10 lords a-leaping Nine ladies dancing Eight maids a-milking Seven swans a-swimming Six geese a-laying Five golden rings Four calling birds Three french hens Two turtle doves, and A partridge in a pear tree |  |
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