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.

1. @NICKWECREATE
@NICKJANKEL
SCIENCE FOR
IMAGINEERS
NICK JANKEL, WECREATE
KAOS PILOTS
FEB 2012

2. DAY 2
SENSE MAKING &
SYSTEMS THINKING

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

6. HEART
CENTRED, GROUNDED

7. HOW DO YOU SOLVE MY BACK ACHE?

8. COLLAPSE

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

10. HOW WE THINK
LINEAR, REDUCTIONIST, MECHANISTIC

11. LINEARITY
CAUSE / EFFECT
BLAME AGENTS / INTENTIONS
REALISM / SCIENTISM

12. EVIDENCE
BASED INTERVENTIONS

13. SYMPTOMS
ROOT ‘CAUSES’

14. WHOLENESS
BIOLOGY: VON BERTANALFY

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

17. SYSTEM
INDIVIDUAL PARTS
PARTS AFFECT EACH OTHER
WHOLE MORE THAN SUM
PERSIST IN DIFFERENT SETTING

18. KP?
INDIVIDUAL PARTS?
PARTS AFFECT EACH OTHER?
WHOLE MORE THAN SUM?
PERSISTS?

19. SYSTEMS
HAVE IDENTITIES WHICH RESIST CHANGE
RESPOND TO INTERVENTIONS
ATTEMPT TO SHAPE PEOPLE / PLACES
COMPLEX BEHAVIOUR
LEARN
SYMBOLIC EXCHANGES

20. SYSTEMIC
COMPLEMENTARY INTERACTIONS
TRIGGERS, DRIVERS, RESPONSES
PATTERNS EMERGE OVER TIME
SYSTEMS CAUSE BEHAVIOUR (VICE VERSA)
MUTUAL RESPONSIBLITY
INTENTIONS ARE NOT ALWAYS CLEAR

21. DIALOGIC
CONSTRUCTED & REAL
TANGIBLE & CONCEPTUAL
CREATE & CREATED

22. CONSTELLATIONS
FAMILY DYNAMICS
MUTUAL OWNERSHIP
EMPATHIC DISCOVERY

23. “Reality is made up of circles, but we
see straight lines. Herein lies the
beginnings of our limitation as systems
thinkers.”
PETER SENGE

24. systems images

25. CHALLENGING
TAUGHT TO ANALYSE, MECHANISE
LINEAR MODE OF THINKING (LANGUAGE)
BIASES & ASSUMPTIONS
SYSTEMS MASQUERADE AS EVENTS

26. “Unlike curiosity or empiricism, holism takes a while to
acquire and appreciate.”
NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS

27. CHALLENGING
TAUGHT TO ANALYSE
LINEAR MODE (LANGUAGE)
BIASES & ASSUMPTIONS
MASQUERADE AS EVENTS

28. MULTIVERSE
MANY STAKEHOLDERS / PERSPECTIVE
MULTIPLE INTENTIONS
MANY FRAMES / INTERPRETATIONS

29. INTERVENTIONS
HIGHLY CHARGED
SCOPING CHALLENGES MANY

30. MAPPING
SYSTEMS

33. FEEDBACK
OSCILLATIONS BETWEEN POSITIVE &
NEGATIVE LOOPS (& INTENTIONS)
THE PAST FEEDS INTO THE FUTURE

36. DRAW KAOS PILOT SYSTEM

37. BOUNDARIES
WHERE?

38. “A system is anything we happen to
draw a boundary around. ”
RICHARD VERYARD

39. LAW
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
SURPRISES!

40. STATE
PREFERRED OR NOT
NOT NORMATIVE ‘RIGHT’ OR ‘WRONG’

41. IDENTIFY PREFERRED KP STATE

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

45. SWEET
SPOTS FOR MULTIPLE INTERVENTIONS

46. REAMP.ORG

48. STATUS QUO
MAINTAINED BY OUTDATED ASSUMPTIONS

50. PLATO
CONVENIENT LIES

51. DEFENDED
BY THE GROUP THINK OF THOSE IN POWER

52. 52

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

58. Breakthrough Breakthrough
Concept
The Problem
Breakthrough
Idea
Conventional
Mindset
Breakthrough
Insights
Conventions /
Assumptions

59. WORK THROUGH SOME ASSUMPTIONS IN
THE KP SYSTEM...

60. DRAW BREAKTHROUGH SYSTEM OF YOUR
‘PROBLEM’
SPOT ASSUMPTIONS
IDENTIFY SWEETSPOTS

61. BEHAVIOUR
IN SYSTEMS

62. GAME
THEORY

63. PRISONER’S
GAME

65. ULTIMATUM
GAME

66. CUBA
MISSILE CRISIS

67. WHY DO YOU DO (OR NOT) YOUR
ASSIGNMENTS?

68. RATIONAL
CHOICE THEORY

69. HOMO
ECONOMICUS

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

71. UNCONSCIOUS
MESMER
CHARCOT
FREUD
JAMES

72. BEHAVIOURAL
SKINNER
OPERANT CONDITIONING

73. RULES
REWARDS

74. COGNITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY

75. BOUNDED
RATIONALITY

76. BEHAVIOURAL
ECONOMICS

77. BIASES
HEURISTICS

78. PROSPECT
THEORY

79. NUDGE
INTERVENTIONS

80. NUDGE
INTERVENTIONS

81. PEER
POWER / PRESSURE

82. DRIVES
MEMBERSHIP, MASTERY, MEANING
AMOR

83. HEART
CENTRED, GROUNDED

84. CO-CREATE 1+ CONCEPTS THAT COULD
MOVE YOUR SYSTEM TO A PREFERRED
STATE

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)

86. CONNECT
NICK@WECREATE.CC
WECREATE.CC (THIS WILL BE UP IN FEW DAYS)
NICKJANKEL.COM