System Seeing Adventure – Day 3: Explore System Concepts

The task on day 3 is to explore system concepts and make concept cards out of them. I will pass on this drawing challenge and rather focus on the write-up here.

I’m aware of two system concepts that helped me the last 10 years. A decade ago I read the book “Thinking in Systems” by Donella H. Meadows. The basic elements that were used in this approach are stocks, inflow and outflow. There are actors, feedback loops and motivations. With those few elements it is possible to describe a lot of systems in a simple way.

What I’m more a fan of at the moment is the DSRP approach from Derek and Laura Cabrera. I stumbled over their podcast via some LinkedIn suggestion, which was one of the best things that happened to me in 2024. DSRP stands for Distinctions, Systems, Relationships and Perspectives. You can organize information with those four patterns to form mental models.

Distinctions means “what is” and “what is not”. You describe the boundaries of the system, of the model, of certain elements. The approach of “what is not” is very helpful to distinct elements of the model, because it can define the “other” better which in turn sharpens the edges of “what is”.

Systems stands for elements of the model. It is divided into “whole” and “parts”. Every element can be split into its parts. But the element is also a part of a greater whole. This is about zooming in and out of a system. Being aware of the parts of any element helps to recognize more details.

Relationships is about the action and reaction between elements. Many elements of a system will have relation to other elements. That is where complexity gets visualized, when you realize just how many elements are connected in any system. This part helps to identify when element A does something (acts), how does element B react to this.

Perspectives is about point of view of the system. The perspective can be from anywhere in and around the system. It can be from an observer position or from any element that has been described above. You can take the perspective of a relation and view the system from there. It’s about identifying perspectives of the system that help to improve the mental model.

These four patterns will always co-exist. As the systems you observe also describing them is complex. But with the patterns it will become easier to dissect a model and understand more of it.

I recently thought about the dimension of time in the model and if it’s just a form of perspective or not.

These are my thoughts on the day 3 exercise of exploring system concepts.