In this Newsletter:

• Reminder: Victor Ganon's webinar May 6th 5 pm
• Forthcoming VSM Practitioner's webinars 
• Invitation to contribute to SB's centenary

URUguay CIBernético

Successfully implementing Stafford Beer's ideas

6 May, 2026, 17:00-18:30 BST (UK)

https://metaphorum.org/upcoming-webinars

General Webinar with Víctor Francisco Ganón Garayalde

6 May 2026, 17:00-18:30 BST

Go to https://metaphorum.org/upcoming-webinars and click PARTICIPATE. Ticket Tailor will register you and send webinar link be email

When the Internet did not exist, a true technological revolution occurred within the Uruguayan State as the country was regaining its democracy.

The URUguay CIBernético project (Cybernetic Uruguay or URUCIB, for short) was a real-time information system for government decision-making. This system was ahead of its time and was later replicated in several countries, which in today's world gains special significance considering the crucial importance of innovation applied to data management.

The project head, Víctor Ganón, reexamines the context and technicalities of this pioneering undertaking, which he directed during Julio María Sanguinetti's presidency between 1985 and 1990, and which was developed under the guidance of the distinguished English cybernetician, Professor Stafford Beer.

Based on the Executive Office orders and in coordination with the main public and private organizations, it was “state of the art" for its time. It was able to take advantage of and integrate various technologies that existed at the time. The URUCIB is also a source of inspiration for all those who dream of generating value and building a Uruguay for the future.

Víctor Ganón is an Industrial Engineer from Universidad de la República (UDELAR), specializing in Communications and Electronics and graduated in Computer Management Studies from the University of London.

Co-main author of the software called "Sistema de información ejecutivo URUCIB", he served as national director of URUCIB, Project URU/86/004, "Informática para la Presidencia de la República", from 1986 to 1990.

He also served as director of Televisión Nacional SODRE from 1998 to 2000, director of the Informatics Division of the Planning and Budget Office (1985-1988), and director of the Computer Centre of the Municipality of Montevideo (1975-1985). He was the Government's representative in the Basic Sciences Development Program (PEDECIBA, 1985-1990).

He coordinated the Science and Technology Commission of the Colorado Party (1992-1994 and 2003-2010) and acted as delegate of the same party in the Science and Technology Commission of the National Programmatic Concertation (CONAPRO, 1984-1985).

In the private sector, he is a founding partner of QUANAM, a professional services company in information technology, which was created in 1976.

Forthcoming General Webinar (June)

10 June 2026, Louis Klein, Elements of a reflexive turn

VSM Practitioner Webinar

Felix Scheb

Hands-on VSM

What works and what doesn't

13 May 2026, 17:00-18:30 BST

Go to https://metaphorum.org/upcoming-webinars and click PARTICIPATE. Ticket Tailor will register you and send webinar link by email.

• How to apply the Viable System Model in real transformations — moving beyond theory to a structured, hands-on approach, with concrete examples from large suppliers, mid-sized firms, and functional areas under cost pressure.
• What actually determines success or failure in VSM projects — including client-side understanding, leadership alignment, human resistance under job insecurity, and why working inside the system on real problems is critical for making VSM stick.

Felix Scheb is an Associated Consultant at Berylls by AlixPartners, where he supports leading organizations in the automotive industry. His work focuses on OEMs and suppliers, with particular expertise in business model strategy, innovation, and corporate finance, including M&A and due diligence. Since joining Berylls in 2021, he has contributed to a wide range of high-impact projects across Europe and Asia. Before that, Felix worked at Horváth & Partners from 2018 to 2021 as a Managing Consultant in the Automotive Center, where he strengthened his experience in strategic and operational consulting. He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt. Earlier in his career, he gained international exposure through internships with Daimler Trucks Asia in Tokyo, as well as consulting firms such as mm1 Consulting and Concentro Management. Felix has worked on a broad spectrum of projects, including strategy development and organizational design for automotive production systems, long-term value strategies for premium OEMs, and end-to-end supply chain optimization. He has also contributed to the design and implementation of lean production, logistics, and pre-assembly technologies, and supported the development of future COO organizations, including the redefinition of governance models for global Tier 1 suppliers. In addition, his work includes business model strategy and business case development in e-mobility and autonomous driving.

Over the past five years, Felix has built extensive hands-on experience applying the Viable System Model (VSM) in the automotive sector as well as in large enterprises and SMEs. His work is grounded in the 7 Steps methodology developed by Martin Pfiffner, as described in The Neurology of Business, enabling organizations to design more effective and viable management and governance structures. Felix combines strong analytical capabilities with practical implementation experience and a deep interest in management cybernetics. He is looking forward to sharing his insights and lessons learned in the webinar, and to engaging with fellow practitioners in a discussion on real-world application challenges of VSM.

Forthcoming VSM-Practitioner Webinars

13 May, 2026

Dr. Felix Scheb, Berylls on an Application Case (German Industry)

8 July, 2026

Louis Harel, pims.ai on VSM and Environments for Decision ("Ops Rooms")

9 September, 2026

 Judith Hennemann, AUMOVIO on an Application Case (dbt)

14 October, 2026

Andreas Schmidt, VR Bank Starnberg on an Application Case (dbt, in German)

11 November, 2026

Mark Lambertz, Bosch on VSM Gaming

Launching our Crowd Funding Campaign to support Stafford Beer's 100 anniversary

Supporting the Stafford Beer 100 Project

As many of you know, 2026 marks Stafford Beer’s centenary. The Metaphorum community is producing two major works to honour his legacy: a feature-length documentary built from first-person testimony and archival material, and an open-access Festschrift capturing 25 years of development in organisational cybernetics — co-edited by Angela Espinosa, Markus Schwaninger, and José Pérez Ríos.

Both will be released freely under Creative Commons. This is a non-commercial project — no one involved is being paid, and no one will profit from the results. Every contribution goes directly toward production costs: filming, editing, design, and printing.

We have now opened a crowdfunding page for those who want to help make these works as strong as they can be. Your support, at any level, directly improves what we can produce. If there is any surplus, it will go toward making the centenary conference in Manchester (17-19 September) a truly memorable gathering.

For more details and to contribute:

https://gofund.me/edf24d8c5