This document provides an overview of systems thinking concepts for imagineers. It discusses key intentions in knowledge production like predicting nature versus appreciating different perspectives. Various research lenses are presented ranging from reductionism to post-modernism. The document then covers topics like feedback mechanisms, preferred system states, and identifying sweet spots for intervention. It provides examples from game theory to demonstrate social behaviors. The challenges of systems thinking are acknowledged, like breaking out of linear thinking. Overall, the document serves as an introduction to applying systems thinking principles to address complex problems.
3. INTENTION KNOWLEDGE TERMS LENSES
REDUCTIONISM
EXPLANATION OF NATURALISM / REALISM EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
KNOW ‘TRUTH’
WHAT IS PROOF INDUCTION /
DEDUCTION
PREDICT / CONTROL CORROBORATION OF EVIDENCE BASE
INSTRUMENTALISM
NATURE WHAT WORKS RCTS
SEMIOTICS
CONTEXT
APPRECIATE / UNDERSTANDING OF
HERMENEUTICS QUAL / QUANT
EMPATHISE HOW THINGS ARE
PO
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
DECONSTRUCTION
CRITICISM OF WHY STRUCTURALISM
DISEMPOWER ‘ARCHEOLOGY’
THINGS ARE POST MODERNISM
CRITICAL THEORY
SYSTEMS / CYNEFIN
INSIGHT INTO HOW TO ACTION RESEARCH
IMPROVE EMANCIPATION
CHANGE THINGS CRITICAL
CONSCIOUSNESS
4. WORK THROUGH YOUR PROBLEM WITH
EACH INTENTION
WHAT KIND OF RESEARCH METHODS?
WHY?
WHAT IS OPPORTUNITY / THREAT WITH
EACH?
5. TODAY
INTRO TO SYSTEMS THINKING. CONTENT & CONTEXT.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS VS. TRIGGERS AND DRIVERS. FEEDBACK
MECHANISMS. PREFERRED STATES. SYSTEM VS. INDIVIDUAL. SYSTEMS &
INNOVATION. WHOLE SYSTEMS CHANGE. TRIM TABS/ SWEETSPOTS.
WORK WITH SYSTEMS THINKING
THE BEER GAME OR OTHER GAMES FROM GAME-THEORY LIKE
PRISONERS DILEMMA, ULTIMATUM GAME, ETC. TO SHOW THE SOCIAL
MECHANISMS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR.
BUILD A SYSTEMS MAP TOGETHER AND LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES AND
SWEET SPOTS TO TRANSFORM IT WITH INNOVATION
9. “We still have not seen much
movement on... the deep systemic
issues that cause the current cluster of
crisis symptoms to be reproduced time
and again. I believe that the most
important root issue of the current
crisis is our thinking: how we
collectively think.”
C OTTO SCHARMER
15. “There can be no scientific study of
society, either in its conditions or its
movements, if it is separated into
portions, and its divisions are
studied apart.”
COMTE
16. ACHILLES: I WILL BE GLAD TO INDULGE BOTH OF YOU, IF YOU
WILL FIRST OBLIGE ME, BY TELLING ME THE MEANING OF THESE
STRANGE EXPRESSIONS, “HOLISM” AND “REDUCTIONISM”.
CRAB: HOLISM IS THE MOST NATURAL THING IN THE WORLD TO
GRASP. IT’S SIMPLY THE BELIEF THAT “THE WHOLE IS GREATER
THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS”. NO ONE IN HIS RIGHT MIND COULD
REJECT HOLISM.
ANTEATER: REDUCTIONISM IS THE MOST NATURAL THING IN THE
WORLD TO GRASP. IT’S SIMPLY THE BELIEF THAT “A WHOLE CAN
BE UNDERSTOOD COMPLETELY IF YOU UNDERSTAND ITS PARTS,
AND THE NATURE OF THEIR ‘SUM’”. NO ONE IN HER LEFT BRAIN
COULD REJECT REDUCTIONISM
43. “Something hit me very hard once,
thinking about what one little man
could do. Think of the Queen Mary - the
whole ship goes by and then comes the
rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the
edge of the rudder called a trim tab.”
BUCKMINSTER FULLER
55. Breakthrough Breakthrough
Concept
The Problem
Breakthrough
Idea
Conventional
Mindset
Breakthrough
Insights
Conventions /
Assumptions
56. Breakthrough Breakthrough
Concept
Non-techies are not buying
or using computers as Think different with
much as they should. an Mac.
The Problem
Breakthrough
Idea
Computers are not Computers can be a
designed for force for amazing
creativity. They are creativity if designed for
there for productivity. beauty, usability and
playfulness.
Conventional
Mindset
Breakthrough
Productivity is the Insights
key benefit of We are all artists;
machinery which we are here to
helps us be more express not
productive cogs in possess.
the machine. Conventions /
Assumptions
57.
58. Breakthrough Breakthrough
Concept
The Problem
Breakthrough
Idea
Conventional
Mindset
Breakthrough
Insights
Conventions /
Assumptions
70. “An arbitrary definition of man, as a
being who inevitably does that by
which he may obtain the greatest
amount of necessaries, conveniences,
and luxuries, with the smallest
quantity of labour and physical self-
denial with which they can be
obtained.”
JOHN STUART MILL
85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FRANK BARRETT & DAVID COOPERRIDER (AI)
PETER SENGE (SYSTEMS)
STANFORD ENCYLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY
WIKIPEDIA
MICHELLE HOLLIDAY (COMPLEXITY)
BELTOWSKA & RAE (SYSTEMS IMAGES)
AIDAN WARD & RICHARD VERYARD (SYSTEMS)
RICHARD SEEL (COMPLEXITY)