“The conclusions of most good operations research studies are obvious.”

—  Robert E. Machol

Cited in: Paul Dickson (1999) The official rules and explanations. p. 14
Machol named this the "Billings Phenomenon". Dickson explains: "The name refers to a well-known Billings story in which a farmer becomes concerned that his black horses are eating more than his white horses. He does a detailed study of the situation and finds that he has more black horses than white horses, Machol points out."
Principles of Operations Research (1975)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The conclusions of most good operations research studies are obvious." by Robert E. Machol?
Robert E. Machol photo
Robert E. Machol24
American systems engineer 1917–1998

Related quotes

Russell L. Ackoff photo

“The development (rather than the history) of operations research as a science consists of the development of its methods, concepts, and techniques. Operations research is neither a method nor a technique; it is or is becoming a science and as such is defined by a combination of the phenomena it studies.”

Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) Scientist

Source: 1950s, The development of operations research as a science, 1956, p. 265, the lead paragraph ; Cited in: Joe Kelly (1969) Organizational behaviour. p. 26.

Matvei Zakharov photo

“Attention must be given to the study of the given operations. Their study with due allowance made for the existing means of warfare will make it possible to reach a number of useful theoretical conclusions for conducting operations in the initial phase of a war.”

Matvei Zakharov (1898–1972) Soviet military commander

Quoted in "Timely Lessons of History: The Manchurian Model for Soviet Strategy" - Page 4 - by John Despres, Lilita Dzirkals, Barton Whaley - History - 1976

Annie Proulx photo

“I don’t think I was a particularly good or diligent mother. It took a long time for the obvious to become obvious: I could not operate in a conventional family.”

Annie Proulx (1935) American novelist, short story and non-fiction author

On women being expected to embrace motherhood naturally in “Annie Proulx: ‘I’ve had a life. I see how slippery things can be’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/05/annie-proulx-ive-had-a-life-i-see-how-slippery-things-can-be in The Guardian (2016 Jun 5) <br class="br">Personal life and writing career

Woodrow Wilson photo

“Administration is the most obvious part of government; it is government in action; it is the executive, the operative, the most visible side of government, and is of course as old as government itself.”

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)

1880s, "The Study of Administration," 1887

Michael Moorcock photo

“It takes little intelligence to draw the obvious conclusion…”

Michael Moorcock (1939) English writer, editor, critic

“Especially if one is blessed with only the barest information concerning other lands and peoples.”
Book 1, Chapter 2 “The Pearl at the Heart of the World” (p. 138)
The Elric Cycle, The Fortress of the Pearl (1989)

Alan Charles Kors photo

“The chasm between what central planning and liberal society brought us, should be the most studied phenomenon of our times. One looks in vain for such study in our research, textbooks, schools, and universities.”

Alan Charles Kors (1943) American academic

2010s, Socialism's Legacy (2011)

Perry Anderson photo

“The first, and most obvious, feature that separates Habermas’s later treatment of law from his original study of the public sphere is its completely unhistorical method.”

Perry Anderson (1938) British historian

Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas (2005), Ch. 5. "Norming Facts, Jürgen Habermas" (2004)

Isaac Asimov photo

“It was obvious that bigotry was never a one-way operation, that hatred bred hatred!”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

Mary Parker Follett photo

“The study of human relations in business and the study of the technology of operating are bound up together.”

Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) American academic

Attributed to Mary Parker Follett in: Business: The Ultimate Resource, 2001. p. 904.
Attributed from postum publications

“Operations research '(OR) is the securing of improvement in social systems by means of scientific method”

C. West Churchman (1913–2004) American philosopher and systems scientist

C. West Churchman, "Operations research as a profession" (1970); cited in Arjang A. Assad, Saul I. Gass (2011) Profiles in Operations Research: Pioneers and Innovators. p. 181
1960s - 1970s

Related topics