Systems thinking, complexity, and systems science
Resilience is about ‘bouncing back’ and getting through challenges, but is it the right model to be considered when “back” isn’t what it was and many challenges are becoming endemic? Resilience has been a prominent term and theory invoked in the discussions of how we collectively respond to social, health, and environmental challenges we are […]
Maybe We Shouldn’t Design for Resilience Read More »
Attractors might be the most useful concept within complexity science for understanding practical change-making. By looking at how an attractor works we can better facilitate action and design more practical strategies in complex situations. We hear much about the concept of complexity when speaking about social systems. Complexity simply refers to a set of multiple,
Using The Concept of Attractors To Facilitate Change Read More »
Our massive push toward more immersive online experiences, space travel, and connected social worlds seem even more divorced from reality when we consider what’s happening in the physical world. Maybe that is the point. When things come in threes I take notice. This is not for any superstitious reasons and more because it points to
Designing Worlds and the Metaverse Read More »
Sensemaking is having its day – but how much of that is a good thing? In this post I ask whether its popularity and spread is actually making less sense of the world than more. In his book The End of Education Neil Postman explores the purpose of our educational system and what it actually does. His critique is
Collective Sensemaking’s Ridiculous End Read More »
Our future depends on our ability to change how we see ourselves and the world and act on it — and it pays to know how this works. Climate change is here (as if there was much doubt). After decades of cautious language, scientists are now speaking about climate change in unequivocal terms. The future
Sensemaking practice is social, interactive, and focused on strategies to work through what we think, know, and imagine. In our previous post we introduced the idea of sensemaking and it’s connection to the process of design. In this post we look at the practical aspects of doing sensemaking and why it matters. Sensemaking is about
What is Sensemaking? Part 2: Practice Read More »
Systems maps are useful for visualizing connections between ideas, actors, institutions, and activities. They are a means to showcasing relationships and boundaries: the things that make social life — community, markets, learning, ideas — what it is. Systems maps can be designed using many different conventions and methods, but the basics are pretty similar. The
Systems Maps: Cautions and Consequences Read More »
Systems change is so difficult because is the link between the past, present and future is tight and often invisible. The term “system(s) change” is often used without a clear sense of what it means. What is the system that needs to be changed and how is that system defined? These are two important questions
The Memory of Systems Read More »
The idea of entanglements is central to understanding complexity in systems and the knots that they generate The idea of entanglements and systems is at the heart of our understanding of complexity as it’s experienced in the world. Much of the literature on complexity speaks of entanglements as complications that arise to challenge our ideas
Entangled Knots and Complexity Read More »
The design opportunities for a post-pandemic world require untangling many knots in our systems. With so much of the world locked down, shut in, or at least restricted in what they can do, there’s been some time to reflect on the state of things and imagine what might come next. The creation of this next
Knotted-Up Systems Design Read More »
