Systems Thinking seems to be important, but how does it work?

Systems Thinking is basically Thinking. Systems Thinking approaches or frameworks have been invented to bring structure to thinking and enable modeling and sharing mental models. This also helps to practice thinking, when you have some more tangible ideas to talk about. Because thinking about thinking is quite on the meta level.

Systems Thinking provides the tools to organize the information we get about the system we analyze.

We are all thinking, all the time. Yes, even the moron, that comes to mind first. We create mental models of the world around us. The goal is to understand reality. And our mental models will try to reflect reality as much as possible and is useful for us. And it doesn’t matter how much of an expert we are in certain areas. We don’t need to understand every thing around us to the last level of detail – if there actually is one. This would cost too much time and doesn’t make any sense. We can accept many things as is, put it in a box and label it as “works” and ignore it. While many will cry out loud, thinking that “milk comes from the super market” can be a sufficient mental model to some, at least for a while.

When asked “How does the Heisenberg compensator work?” Star Trek technical adviser Michael Okuda responded: “It works very well, thank you.”

I’m not an expert in systems thinking. I personally believe that I actually started thinking properly at some time in the last 10-15 years. Which leaves more than 30 years unaccounted for. Of course I was thinking before as well. And my thinking was working sufficient enough to make it through life. But my thinking was more improvised, applying what used to be common sense, and a quick grasp how things work on a shallow level. When reading my first book on Systems Thinking more structure appeared to the way I looked at things. Donella Meadows’ book “Thinking in Systems: A Primer” gave me tools to organize my mental models. I didn’t need to re-invent the wheel with every system on how to explain it. Several of the insights I gained were happy mind-blowing for me.

Systems Thinking is about having a set of methods and approaches to analyze a system and organize the collected information. If any of the many frameworks and approaches help you with that or you have your own way doesn’t matter. When I started listening to the Cabrera Labs Podcast last year I learned about their way of organizing information in mental models. I found it rather appealing as well.
Then my friend Vernon brought the Systems Seeing Adventure from Ruth Malan to my attention. This includes a bunch of new tools I have not heard about before. They were interesting to use. Especially as these tools manifest in output to share with other people. And it reminds me to continue with my Systems Seeing Adventure as well.

In 2013 I started using Mind Maps to model the system under test. I called them Virtual Test Models. It helped with identifying the different elements of a system and dissecting them. It was relatively helpful until I started putting relationships between nodes into them. This created a huge visual mess and the whole thing was not usable anymore. It was a clear sign that the system I had to test was too complex for simple approaches like a mind map. But it was a starting point to help identify issues with the system, or talk people through it. So goal achieved. It was useful to some degree.

Doing Systems Thinking

There are many frameworks out there for you to discover. I want to give you a generic overview of the things you might want to look for in any given system. And like with everything else, practice is key. Whatever approach you chose, when you want to get better, practice.

Just recently I made a systems thinking exercise with my daughter. I was trying to teach her the DSRP approach from Drs. Cabrera by looking at the kitchen door. I will add examples to the categories from that exercise.

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Remember, these categories are there to help organize the information you gain about the system and describe your mental model.

Boundaries / Distinctions

What is and is not my system under evaluation? How do I distinguish between certain elements? Where does one end and the next start?

Example: What do we take into account as kitchen door? We decided to include the door frame as relevant for the model. We decided that mounting the frame in the wall itself is not relevant for now, as we want to focus on the moving door part.

Elements / Parts / Whole

What does the system I look at consist of? What is it part of? Can I take one element and break it further down? Can I zoom out and see what its part of? Can I zoom in, if there is something of relevance to learn. more?

Example: We have established the door or door leaf itself and the frame it is attached to. In the door leaf itself we found the lock and the handle. We virtually dissected the handle and all it’s screws and elements. On the other side of the door leaf we found the hinge joints. To look at it as kitchen door, we established that the frame as part of the kitchen wall is relevant. So we looked at the parts of the door frame as well.

Connections / Relations / Actions

Things are connected. They are not hanging loosely in the air. How are they related? Are they related? Are there actions or flows from one element that influence another? Inflows, outflows, actions, reactions. Feedback cycles! There can be a lot going on.

Example: Obvious, the hinges from the door leaf are connected to the hinge parts of the frame. But there is a relation when pushing the handle down, to retracting the lock bolt or whatever you call it. But the handle is not connected to the other bolt underneath. That one is connected to the lock itself and is moved out and in with the key. These bolts are related to the slots in the frame where they can be placed.

Actors / Motivations / Perspectives

From which angle can we look at the system. And this don’t have to be people. This can be elements of the system or even relations. What is the goal of individual actors? What are driving forces? What is their motivation? What we learned from crime shows and movies is that you want to follow either money or emotions (love or greed) when it comes to people.

Example: We took mostly perspectives from people involved with the door. The person mounting it, and what is relevant for them. The person buying it, and why? The person using it. We also quickly took the perspective of the door leaf or the handle to see how the view of the model would change. From the handle’s point of view certain things are irrelevant on first sight, while others are more obvious.

And these elements can be applied to any system. You can look at whole countries, an animal, a piece of software, a bicycle, a company, the house you live in, the game you want to play. Just try it.