Learning Systems Thinking

Learning Systems Thinking

by Diana Montalion
Released July 2024
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781098151331

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Book description

A decade ago, developers built information-sharing software by writing a lot of custom code in a single code base, then adding layers of caching. Now we build information systems: interdependent software and services, data platforms, and event streams. Many of our software-to-systems initiatives fail, though, and when they do, we double down on traditional linear approaches. But linear thinking cannot resolve systems challenges. We need to shift to systems thinking.

This book shows software developers and architects how systems thinking can guide you through the emerging complexity of modern systems. Author Diana Montalion presents a vision of technology architecture that transforms how we learn, communicate, and collaborate with others. Through practical examples and scenarios, you'll learn how to develop critical self-reflection and decision-making skills amid complexity and uncertainty—and lead impactful cultural change within your organization.

You'll learn:

  • How linear thinking limits your perspective on software systems
  • The obstacles to changing your perspective and how to move past them
  • How systems and nonlinear thinking help you understand and navigate complex issues arising from internal and external factors
  • Methods for creating sound, cross-functional recommendations in the midst of complexity and uncertainty
  • How nonlinear approaches improve the quality of architectural thinking and deliver impactful change for organizations
  • How to provide a modern style of leadership as software becomes information systems

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Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. From Nowhere to Everywhere
    2. From Software to Systems
    3. Technology Design is Communication Design
    4. Conventions Used in This Book
    5. O’Reilly Online Learning
    6. How to Contact Us
    7. Acknowledgments
  2. I. A System of Thinking
  3. 1. A System of Thinking
    1. Linear Thinking Is the Default
    2. Systems Thinking Is Nonlinear
    3. What Is Systems Thinking?
    4. Systems Thinking Is a Practice
    5. Qualities of a Systems Thinker
    6. MAGO’s Quandary
  4. 2. Crafting Conceptual Integrity
    1. Relationships Produce Effect
    2. Systems Thinking Is Sociotechnical
    3. Counterintuitiveness
    4. A System in Flux
    5. A System of Ideas
    6. Time Is Always a Factor
    7. Support for Your Practice: Riding on the Front of the Train
    8. Your Practice: Writing as Thinking
    9. Counterintuitive MAGO
  5. 3. Shifting Your Perspective
    1. Five Core Practices
      1. You Are Constantly Learning
      2. You’re Comfortable Structuring Inquiry
      3. You Do (or Are Willing to Do) Deep Work
      4. You Respectfully Engage
      5. You Stop Being Sisyphus
      6. Modeling as a Core Practice
    2. The Iceberg That Sinks Our Initiatives
      1. Events
      2. Patterns & Trends
      3. Structure
      4. Mental Models
    3. The Blame Game
    4. Your Practice: The Iceberg Model
    5. MAGO’s Quandary: Shifting Perspective
    6. Support for Your Practice: Shifting Perspective Is Hard
  6. II. You Are a System of Thinking
  7. 4. Self-Awareness as a Foundational Skill
    1. Systems Thinking: The Hard Parts
    2. Decision Making Is a Noisy Process
    3. Observe Your Thinking
      1. Your Practice: Flow with Your Thinking
      2. Alternative Practices
    4. MAGO: Everything Is in Our Blind Spots
      1. Model the Current System
      2. Research Similar Systems
      3. Listen to the Pain
      4. Make Some Prototypes
      5. What If We Do Nothing?
    5. Support for Your Practice: 12 Things Self-Awareness Taught Me
  8. 5. Replace Reacting with Responding
    1. Noticing Your Reactions
    2. Opinion-Driven as Normal
    3. Empathy as a Core Skill
    4. Create Space for Your Reactions
    5. Your Practice: Options When Reacting
      1. “Yes, and …”
      2. The 24-Hour Rule
      3. Breathe
      4. Go for a Walk
      5. Make a Snack or Take a Nap
      6. Write
      7. Notice Your Triggers: They Are Clues
    6. MAGO’s Reactions
    7. Support for Your Practice: The Stories Don’t Have to Be the Same
  9. 6. A System of Learning
    1. A Learning-Driven Career
    2. Practice 1: What Motivates You?
    3. Designing Your Learning Activities
      1. Generate Artifacts
      2. Observe and Inquire
      3. Synthesize
      4. Experience
    4. Practice 2: Describe Your Activities
    5. Designing Your Learning Outcomes
    6. Practice 3: Learning Outcomes
      1. Improve Your Ability to Shift Perspective
      2. Increase Your Tolerance for Ambiguity
      3. Understand Context and Relational Impact
      4. Identify Patterns and Structures
      5. Create Groupings and Boundaries Without Reductionism
      6. Think Critically and Apply Sound Judgment
      7. Develop Your Interpersonal Skills
    7. Design Feedback Loops
    8. Practice 4: Who Can Help Me?
      1. One Day at a Time, Forever
      2. MAGO: Boundless Learning Opportunities
      3. Support for Your Practice: It’s All Interrelated
  10. III. We Are a System of Thinking
  11. 7. Collective Systemic Reasoning
    1. What Is Systemic Reasoning?
      1. How Systemic Reasoning Is Collective
      2. Systemic Reasoning Has Other Names
      3. Systemic Reasoning Is Building an Idea
    2. Your Practice: Create a Proposition
      1. Identify Your Idea, Action, or Theory
      2. Identify Your Reasons
      3. Strengthen the Reasons
      4. Be Honest About Potential Pitfalls
      5. Systemic Reasoning Is a Method of Inquiry
      6. Systemic Reasoning Is a Worthwhile Investment
      7. Systemic Reasoning Structures (and Frames) Ambiguity
      8. The Top-Down Elaboration
    3. Strengthening the Reasons
      1. Understandable
      2. Reliable
      3. Relevant
      4. Cohesive
      5. Cogent
    4. Your Practice: Strengthen Your Reasons
    5. MAGO’s Proposition
    6. Support for Your Practice: The Iceberg Model
  12. 8. Designing Feedback Loops
    1. Building Conceptual Bridges
      1. Mind the Gaps
      2. The Bridges
    2. Systems Thinking Needs Feedback Loops
      1. Ask for the Feedback You Need
      2. Get Feedback from People You Need
      3. Follow the Golden Rule of Feedback
      4. Feedback Loops Include Learning
    3. Four Core Skills
      1. How to Listen
      2. Change Your Own Mind
      3. Engage with the Reasons
      4. Look for Fallacies
    4. Your Practice: Get Some Feedback
    5. MAGO: Helpful Conceptual Bridges
    6. Support for Your Practice: Strong Conceptual Bridges
  13. 9. Pattern Thinking
    1. What Is Pattern Thinking?
    2. Patterns Produce Events
    3. How Relationships Produce Effect
      1. Same Event; Different Patterns
      2. Where to Look for Patterns
      3. Three Types of Patterns
      4. Seven Pattern Thinking Questions
    4. MAGO: Looking at the Patterns
      1. Patterns in Relationship
      2. External, Technology System, and Process Patterns
      3. Applying the Seven Questions to MAGO
    5. Your Practice: The Seven Questions
    6. Support for Your Practice: Pattern Thinking Outside of Technology
  14. IV. Designing a System of Thinking
  15. 10. Modeling, Together
    1. What Is Modeling?
      1. A Model Doesn’t Unify—Modeling Does
      2. Design Thinking
      3. There’s No One Way
    2. Taking a Systems Perspective
      1. What Do We Model?
      2. The Domain
      3. Causal Loops
      4. The Seven Questions
    3. MAGO from a Systems Perspective
      1. The Problem and Solution Space
      2. Linear and Nonlinear, Revisited
      3. Patterns, Revisited
    4. Your Practice: Go Model
    5. Support for Your Practice: Resources
  16. 11. Systems Leadership
    1. The Paradigm We Work In
      1. What Systems Leadership Is Not
      2. Management
      3. Unique to Technology
      4. Subject Matter Expertise (Exclusively)
    2. Characteristics of Systems Leadership
      1. Architecting Communication Structures
      2. Integrative Leadership
      3. Finding Places to Intervene
    3. Learning Leadership
      1. Developing Learning Heuristics
      2. Seven Learning Heuristics
    4. MAGO: Systems Leadership
      1. Understand the Pain
      2. Identify the System’s Highest-value Purpose
      3. Model the Current System
      4. Create a Shared Space for Thinking Together
      5. Articulate and Justify the Core Problem(s)
      6. Recommend Pathways Towards Improving the Systems
      7. Design a System of Communication and Encourage Thinking Well Together
      8. Take Excellent Care of Yourself
      9. Encourage Systems Thinking
    5. Your Practice: A Systems Leadership Cohort
  17. 12. Redefining Success
    1. Success Is a System
      1. Successful Systems Have Enabling Constraints
      2. Successful Systems Solve Root Causes
      3. Successful Systems Equalize Impact
      4. Successful Systems Generate Knowledge Flow
      5. Your Practice: Success Is a Paradigm Shift
    2. Qualities of Success
    3. Success for MAGO
    4. Support for Your Practice: Objectives for Systems Leaders
      1. Objective: Cultivate Conceptual Integrity in Solution Recommendations
      2. Objective: Improve Knowledge Stock
      3. Objective: Improve Knowledge Flow
    5. Dancing With Systems
  18. Further Resources
    1. Books
    2. Articles
    3. Tools & Approaches
  19. Helpful Concepts and Keywords
  20. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: Learning Systems Thinking
  • Author(s): Diana Montalion
  • Release date: July 2024
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781098151331