Recent Read: Thinking in Systems
“Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows provides a primer on systems defined as sets of elements, interconnections and a function or purpose. A football team is a system, a school, a city, a factory, a company, and the list goes on. Some of the critical concepts include historical context, mental models, and continuous learning. A few thoughts on these below:
Historical Context:
“The behavior of a system is its performance over time – its growth, stagnation, decline, oscillation, randomness or evolution. If the new did a better job of putting things into a historical context, we would have better behavior-level understanding, which is deeper than event-level understanding.”
Meadows explains that events appear as tips of the iceberg with the larger structure largely hidden. When systems thinkers encounter a problem, the first thing they do is look to history for find clues of the underlying structure to understand not just what is happening but why.
I don’t recall a time when I’ve deliberately investigated history in a work setting. Tapping natural historians for perspective is one thing, though purposefully cobbling together a rough history would be another, and potentially more impactful than other current state data.
Mental Models:
“When we draw structural diagrams and then write equations, we are forced to make our assumptions visible and to express them with vigor. We have to put every one of our assumptions about the system our where others (and we ourselves) can see them.”
Mental models may also be represented with words or lists or pictures or arrows showing relationships between concepts or ideas. Remembering that everything everyone knows is only a model, this practice enables others to challenge assumptions and add their own.
I believe this insight applies not only to the day-to-day work contributions, but also to more abstract applications including performance and development planning. I believe there’s magic in articulating and visualizing ideas for feedback.
Continuous Learning:
“Pretending you’re in control even when you aren’t is a recipe not only for mistakes but also for not learning from mistakes. What’s appropriate when you’re learning is small steps, constantly monitoring, and a willingness to change course as you find out more about where it’s leading.”
Meadows explains that systems thinking also serves as a reminder of how incomplete mental models are, how complex the world is, and how much is unknown about various systems. Given these conditions, charging forward with rigid, undeviating directives is seldom appropriate.
I’ve found that this insight is incredibly difficult in practice. The more challenging the problem to solve, the greater the need for alignment and approval. And the more complicated the conditions, the more revisiting directives and decisions creates an organizational minefield.
