Systems thinking

Systems thinking is concerned with expanding our awareness to see the relationships between parts and wholes rather than looking at just discrete, isolated parts.

– [[Systems Thinking and How It Can Help Build a Sustainable World: A Beginning Conversation]]

Systems thinking – the term given to the modern rebirth of holistic thinking in academic and professional fields – compels us to listen to our instincts, break down barriers, see the bigger picture, explore possibilities, and relearn much of what we’ve already known.

– [[Systems Thinking and How It Can Help Build a Sustainable World: A Beginning Conversation]]

Russell Ackoff put it well, “Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes.”[7] Horst Rittel called them “wicked problems.”[8]

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

Churchman outlined four approaches to systems: 1) The approach of the efficiency expert (reducing time and cost); 2) The approach of the scientist (building models, often with mathematics); 3) The approach of the humanist (looking to our values); and 4) The approach of the anti-planner (accepting systems and living within them, without trying to control them).[12] We might also consider a fifth approach: 5) The approach of the designer, which in many respects is also the approach of the policy planner and the business manager, (prototyping and iterating systems or representations of systems).

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

What's the point?

Today, systems thinking is needed more than ever because we are becoming overwhelmed by complexity,” said Peter Senge, a leading thinker on systems dynamics modeling, in his book The Fifth Discipline. “Perhaps for the first time in history, humankind has the capacity to create far more information than anyone can absorb, to foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change far faster than anyone’s ability to keep pace

– Systems Mapping: A Vital Ingredient for Successful Partnerships - RMI

Framing

Since “systems” are human constructions and can be thought of in infinitely many complex ways, we have to be clear about how we’re framing any particular system of interest. For example, what are its boundaries? What perspective are we taking when talking about it? How do its parts interact? And so forth.

– [[Systems Thinking and How It Can Help Build a Sustainable World: A Beginning Conversation]]

It helps when framing a system to know why we’re even talking about it in the first place! Sure, we can wax poetic about abstract notions of “systemsness,” but ultimately, thinking about things as systems is useful because it helps us to understand the world and solve problems. When analyzing or discussing systems, try to ground them in the practical context of real-world problems or phenomena, or the conversation will likely go nowhere fast.

– [[Systems Thinking and How It Can Help Build a Sustainable World: A Beginning Conversation]]

Links

📓 garden/kerry-tries-fed-wiki/systems-thinking.md by @kerry-tries-fed-wiki

There are three critical types of thinking necessary to be empowered creators in the new economy – three types of thinking we are challenged to develop in our students.

There is [[Design Thinking]], where we are called upon to listen deeply and empathetically to users in order to develop, through iterative discovery, new solutions.

There is [[Process Thinking]] which calls us to think abstractly in complex logical structures to develop new processes.

And then there is Systems Thinking, which challenges us to understand patterns of relationships in order to create self-sustaining systems. In the Industrial Age, these systems were thought of as mechanistic. In our new creative economy, at the threshold of what might be called the Imagination Age, complex systems are understood to be more like living organisms, [[Holonic]] in nature.

Great innovators are system thinkers. Leonardo da Vinci certainly was. At the root of his immense capability was his insatiable curiosity about many diverse areas. He would explore each of these areas deeply, linking his observations to create complex webs of understanding – each a [[Meaning Matrix]].

Each of these matrices could be thought of as sitting on independent planes of consciousness. He was then able to draw connections between these planes that allowed him to create powerful insights that felt, to others, magical.

Developing all three of these types of thinking allows us to unlock the potential of the [[Whole Mind]].

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📖 stoas