Embracing Complexity for Better Teamwork
- 1. embracing complexity for better teamwork IBM Design workshop Rebecca Knowe
- 2. embracing complexity through systems thinking there are many ways to manage complexity (this is one of them) frameworks pattern seeking trend analysis systems thinking!
- 3. embracing complexity through systems thinking after this session, I’d like you to be able to: use concept mapping to model relationships between components of a system discuss the impact design changes would have on a system feel empowered to: - pinpoint strategic changes in complex systems - differentiate between what’s “complex” and what’s just “complicated”
- 4. embracing complexity through systems thinking In a nutshell, systems thinking is about thinking at macro levels, not just a micro level. We’re moving from seeing just the trees to seeing the forest... ...and the mountain range, and the watershed, and the ecosystem. Eames, Powers of Ten
- 5. artifacts Milton Glaser, One.org why systems thinking? problem: poverty
- 6. artifacts Milton Glaser, One.org tools and systems Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop per Child why systems thinking? problem: poverty
- 7. “Instead of thinking of systems only as things we make, we need to think of them as things that are affected by what we make.” Meredith Davis why systems thinking? problem: poverty artifacts Milton Glaser, One.org tools and systems Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop per Child
- 8. what is a system? A set of interacting or interdependent products that make up an integrated whole. J. Christopher Jones
- 9. communities interrelated systems systems interrelated products products interrelated components components what is a system? A set of interacting or interdependent products that make up an integrated whole. J. Christopher Jones apps, Siri
- 10. communities interrelated systems systems interrelated products products interrelated components components what is a system? A set of interacting or interdependent products that make up an integrated whole. J. Christopher Jones apps, Siri iPhone, iOS 7
- 11. communities interrelated systems systems interrelated products products interrelated components components what is a system? A set of interacting or interdependent products that make up an integrated whole. J. Christopher Jones apps, Siri iPhone, iOS 7 content distribution: app store supply chain: suppliers to stores support systems: AppleCare, Genius Bar, forums
- 12. communities interrelated systems systems interrelated products products interrelated components components what is a system? A set of interacting or interdependent products that make up an integrated whole. J. Christopher Jones apps, Siri iPhone, iOS 7 Apple ecosystems: fans, sellers, employees content distribution: app store supply chain: suppliers to stores support systems: AppleCare, Genius Bar, forums
- 13. concept mapping elements + interconnections Data Click concept map
- 14. Goals Actions Information People Representations Goals Indexers Sensors Analyzers Questions Interpreters Indexes Source Answers Articulators Synthesizers Results Sets are examined by and sorted by and stored in to create to produce understood by are looked up in that may reference that are summarized by that may produce combined by and made clear by to produce that should supply enabling toward require ask of a to get that consists of make to achieve Databases KnowledgeAcquisitionContext InformationCreation Information Storage Information Retrieval Query Formation Understanding Internet Search 26 January 2000 Designed by Matt Leacock Search Core Concept Map, version 1.5 Internet search concept map
- 18. concept mapping exercise Map your product and the system it fits into. Or use one of these systems: How weather works How food gets from farm to table How the digestive system works
- 19. concept mapping exercise Map your product and the system it fits into. Or use one of these systems: How weather works How food gets from farm to table How the digestive system works Where do I start? What’s most important to include? What words do I choose? Do I use a sentence?
- 20. concept mapping exercise Map your product and the system it fits into. Or use one of these systems: How weather works How food gets from farm to table How the digestive system works Where do I start? Start with what you know. What’s most important to include? Whatever has most impact. What words do I choose? Nouns + verbs. Do I use a sentence? Nope, try to distill it to nodes and their effects on each other.
- 21. mapping software systems Collaboration through system maps Systems comprise: elements + interconnections + a function/purpose
- 22. How do we design for software systems? “A systems approach looks at users in relation to a context and in terms of their interaction with devices, with each other, and with themselves.” Hugh Dubberly
- 23. Leverage points Places in the system where a small change could lead to a large shift in behavior Donella H. Meadows
- 24. Leverage points 1. Transcending paradigms 2. Paradigms 3. Goals 4. Self-organization 5. Rules 6. Information flows 7. Reinforcing feedback loops 8. Balancing feedback loops 9. Delays 10. Stock-and-flow structures 11. Buffers 12. Numbers
- 25. Leverage points 1. Transcending paradigms 2. Paradigms 3. Goals 4. Self-organization 5. Rules 6. Information flows 7. Reinforcing feedback loops 8. Balancing feedback loops 9. Delays 10. Stock-and-flow structures 11. Buffers 12. Numbers: constants, parameters (subsidies, taxes, standards) Example: “We Are All African” poster to raise money for One.org campaign aiding Africans in poverty. One Laptop Per Child program sought to alleviate poverty through increasing access to information. Milton Glaser, One.org Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop per Child
- 26. Leverage points 1. Transcending paradigms 2. Paradigms 3. Goals 4. Self-organization: the power to add, change, evolve system structure 5. Rules 6. Information flows: structure of who does and does not have access to information 7. Reinforcing feedback loops: strength of the gain of driving loops 8. Balancing feedback loops 9. Delays 10. Stock-and-flow structures 11. Buffers 12. Numbers Example: “We Are All African” poster to raise money for One.org campaign aiding Africans in poverty. One Laptop Per Child program sought to alleviate poverty through increasing access to information. Milton Glaser, One.org Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop per Child
- 27. Leverage points 1. Transcending paradigms 2. Paradigms 3. Goals 4. Self-organization 5. Rules: incentives, punishments, contraints 6. Information flows 7. Reinforcing feedback loops 8. Balancing feedback loops 9. Delays 10. Stock-and-flow structures 11. Buffers 12. Numbers Example: In 2013, Twitter changed API usage rules to limit the number of users who could access its feeds through third-party applications, like Falcon Pro. This move dampened the existing market for Twitter client applications, drove users instead toward the native Twitter app, and enabled Twitter to incorporate advertising.
- 28. Leverage points 1. Transcending paradigms 2. Paradigms: mind set out of which the system (its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters) arises 3. Goals 4. Self-organization 5. Rules 6. Information flows 7. Reinforcing feedback loops 8. Balancing feedback loops 9. Delays 10. Stock-and-flow structures: physical systems and their nodes of intersection 11. Buffers 12. Numbers
- 29. Find out more: Interactions Magazine, Hugh Dubberly Graphic Design Theory: Graphic Design in Context, Meredith Davis Thinking in Systems, Donella H. Meadows Thanks!