Scribd
Upload
2K views18 pages

Thinking in Systems

A system is more than the sum of its parts and can be depicted using various tools like feedback loops. Systems work well through resilience, self-organization, and hierarchy but can go wrong through issues like policy resistance, the tragedy of the commons, and addiction. The most impactful leverage points for changing systems are often the least intuitive like information flows, rules and self-organization rather than surface level parameters. Ultimately, changing the goals or mindset that shape a system may be needed to drive meaningful transformation.

Uploaded by

Grace bunella
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2K views18 pages

Thinking in Systems

A system is more than the sum of its parts and can be depicted using various tools like feedback loops. Systems work well through resilience, self-organization, and hierarchy but can go wrong through issues like policy resistance, the tragedy of the commons, and addiction. The most impactful leverage points for changing systems are often the least intuitive like information flows, rules and self-organization rather than surface level parameters. Ultimately, changing the goals or mindset that shape a system may be needed to drive meaningful transformation.

Uploaded by

Grace bunella
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 18

Thinking in Systems

Donella Meadows
What is a system?

An entity more than the sum of its parts.

A set of things interconnected in such a way that


they produce their own pattern of behavior over time.
Is this a system?

1. Can you identify parts?


Is this a system?

1. Can you identify parts?


2. Do the parts affect each other?
Is this a system?

1. Can you identify parts?


2. Do the parts affect each other?
3. Do the parts together produce an
effect different from their individual
effect?
4. Does the effect or behavior persist
in a variety of circumstances?
Depicting Systems
Depicting Systems
Feedback Loops
If A causes B, is it possible that B also causes A?
Feedback Loops
Balancing Feedback Loops - Goal seeking
Feedback Loops
Reinforcing Feedback Loops - Exponential Growth or Decay
Why do Systems Work Well?
Resilience, the ability to recover from perturbation or restore itself. Built in safety
margins.

Self Organization, the ability of a system to adapt and make itself more complex

Hierarchy, the formation of subsystems with their own functions and goals
Why Systems Surprise Us
A system is a mental model, it never fully represents reality

Events and behaviors are what we naturally pay attention to, but they’re not
necessarily representative of the underlying structure of the system

Boundaries are set to simplify a model but everything is part of a giant system
without boundaries. We make rational decisions based on the information we
have...but we often don’t have the right information

Non-linear relationships, systems often don’t behave in a linear way like we might
expect, especially when they encounter the limiting factors
How Systems Go Wrong
Policy Resistance - Fixes that Fail
Goals of subsystems are different, inconsistent or competing against each other. More effort = more
resistance. Align the goals of the competing parties with a better overarching goal that everyone supports.

Tragedy of the Commons


Self interest >system interest around a common resource leads to depletion of the resource (to the point it
cannot be replenished).

Drift to Low Performance - Frog in Boiling Water Syndrome


Performance drops as perceived standards go down. "It's getting warmer, but not that much warmer than it
was a minute ago..." Keep absolute, not relative standards.

Escalation - The Arms Race


Stocks are driven by surpassing another. Avoid or don’t participate.
How Systems Go Wrong
Success to the Successful - Monopoly
Rewards of success are more means for success.

Addiction
Shifting the burden onto a solution that doesn't actually improve the root problem, and actually harms the
ability to deal with the root problem. Help it help itself.

Rule Beating / Bending


Following the rules in a way that defeats the point of the rules. The letter of the law is upheld, but the spirit
of the law is not.

Seeking the Wrong Goal - You Get Exactly What You Ask For
When the goal is not representative of what will actually fix the problem. You get exactly what you ask
for...and it might make things worse! Confusing effort with result.
Leverage Points
A leverage point may be intuitive to find to those familiar with the system, but it is
often pushed in the wrong direction. They're counterintuitive.

Parameters & Constants


Much of the time, parameters of systems, the things we've identified and control (rates, flows), aren't
leverage points. Changing them doesn't actually do much.
"Rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic."

Buffers
Stocks which are big relative to their flows are more stable, but less flexible
They can have an impact as leverage points...but are often disqualified by physical limitations...e.g. the
carrying capacity

Physical Structures
Can have huge impact on a system, but once it is established (all roads in Hungary lead to Budapest) it is
very hard to change
Leverage Points
Delays - Between information and change
It's impossible for a system with long delays to respond to fast changes, and a system with too short delays
causes overreaction. Delays can have a huge impact on the system, but are often things cannot be made
faster. Usually easier to increase a delay.

Balancing Feedback Loops - Stabilizing toward a Goal


Be wary of eliminating these just because "they aren't used much". They are critical when they are necessary
to keep the system within safe bounds.

Reinforcing Feedback Loop


Growth, Explosion, Erosion, Collapse. Reducing the power of the reinforcing loop is usually more effective
than increasing it

Information Flows
Link the missing information that matters and will change behavior to a compelling position.
Example: Town's water inflow pipe downstream of waste outflow pipe
Leverage Points
Rules - Incentives, punishments, constraints
The rules and who has power over them. Constitution, Laws of Physics, etc.

Self-Organization - Add, Change, Evolve


Surviving change by changing. Evolutionary raw material which can be experimented with to make changes;
Flexible Raw Material + Variety = Evolution!

Change the Goal


Change the overall goal a system seeks to accomplish.
Growth isn't necessarily a bad goal if there are proper balancing feedbacks.
Key individuals can influence if they can change the goal of the system
Paradigms
Changing Paradigms - Mindset
The assumed, the unquestioned. The world we assume exists around us and do not question, because
it's obvious. To change the paradigm is to set forth a whole new way of seeing. How? Point out flaws in
the old, make the new prominent. Build a model of the current system so that it can be seen from the
outside.

Transcending Paradigm “is to stay flexible, to realize that no paradigm is "true",


that every one, including the one that sweetly shapes your own worldview, is a
tremendously limited understanding of an immense and amazing universe that is
far beyond human comprehension. It is to get at a gut level that paradigm that
there are paradigms, and to see that that itself is a paradigm, and to regard that
whole realization as devastatingly funny. It is to let go into not-knowing.”

You might also like