slide session 2 - understanding systems thinking to understand complex situations

system

something that maintains its existence/functions through how its parts interact (biological ____, social ____, the economy, etc)

• they’re nested (sitting inside of each other, like a russian doll), sometimes it’s hard to tell where one ends and another begins

• often viewed as black boxes

systems thinking

ways of figuring out how to govern the system, how the system works

• a way to see the world

• helps to make predictions and understand why something is happening

• systems are two faced, your point of view determines what’s gonna work to adjust the system

• looks for circular casuality instead of linear casual relations

upward causation

anaylsis/reductionism; the whole is determined by the behavior of its parts (analysis/reductionism)

• example: the performance of the company (the whole) will be determined by the work of the employees (the parts)

downward causation

to an extent, the behavior of the parts are determined by the behavior of the whole (synthesis/systems thinking)

emergent properties

characteristics of the whole system that aren’t present in the parts in isolation

• events cannot be predicted by analyzing the pieces of the system

• some systems that contain these include snowflakes, anthills, the shape that birds migrate in, etc

side effects/unintended consequences

the larger the choice/the larger the system is, the larger they’re going to be

feedback

when system outputs are applied back into the system as inputs in order to control the system

• balancing/dampening this is what drives the system towards its goal and creates stability

• reinforcing this pushes the system away from equilibrium and creates growth or decay

• ____ loops are how systems work

feedback loops

the result of people acting on predictions of the future (expectation of a shortage > more people buying a product > an actual shortage)

• the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy

moore’s law

you’ll get 2x as much computing power for your money every two years

systems thinking “rules”

• define the output

• question the boundary

• look both ways (up and down)

• expect loops, delays, lagged impacts, and side effects (look for these even if they aren’t obvious at first)

• identify feedback + feedforward controls (how does the system learn?)

• worry about using just one view of a system