This document summarizes a virtual event hosted by the IIBA UK North Branch on February 16th, 2021. The event featured a presentation by Jo Solecki on "Planes, Trains & Animals – Lessons for the BA". The presentation explored systems thinking concepts like holons, fractals, convergence and divergence. It also provided overviews of tools like idealized design, integrated frameworks, and viable systems modeling. The goal was to illustrate how these concepts and tools can help business analysts synthesize information and think more holistically about systems and processes.

1. IIBA UK North Branch
Virtual Event – 16th February 2021
Jo Solecki
Senior Business Analyst
Volunteer - IIBA UK Chapter - North Branch
@UKIIBA #UKIIBA
IIBA UK North Branch LinkedIn group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5168049/
IIBA UK LinkedIn group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/55932/
United
Kingdom
Chapter

2. Planes,Trains
& Animals –
Lessons for the BA

3. INTERACTIVE https://vwall.org/join/10615188
Also free to use the chat
function on Zoom

4. ABOUT…
• ME
• THIS PRESENTATION
• YOU!
• OUR LEARNING TOGETHER
https://vwall.org/join/10615188

5. SLICING, DICING, ANALYSING… & EMERGENT PROPERTIES
PLANE
ELEPHANT

6. ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS (AN OUTRAGEOUS STEREOTYPE)
CONSTRUCTTHE PARTS
DESIGNTHE WHOLE

7. CONVERGENCE & DIVERGENCE
CONVERGENCE
DIVERGENCE
>
<

8. PROCESS & SYSTEMSTHINKING
BOTH…
• Parts
• Analysis
• Process
• Complicated
• Simple
• Predictable
• Mechanistic
• In
AND…
• Whole
• Synthesis
• System
• Chaos
• Complexity
• Unpredictable
• Organic
• Out
8

9. WHOLES, HOLES, BITS & PIECES
FRACTALS
HOLONS

10. SO WHAT?
10
Engineers?
Architects?
Scientists!

11. SOME USEFUL AREASTO EXPLORE…
TOOLS…
1. Idealized Design
2. Integrated Framework
3. Viable Systems Model
4. Hierarchical Process Maps
TIPS…
A. Holons & fractals
B. How & why
C. Diverge & converge
D. Analyse & synthesise
.
11

12. 1 IDEALIZED DESIGN
• Created by Russel L. Ackoff
“An idealized design of a system
is the design its stakeholders
would have right now if they
could have any system they
wanted”
• Now, and without constraints, except:
• Technological feasibility
• Operationally viable [context]
12
Idealized Design: How Bell Labs Imagined - and Created - the Telephone
System of the Future - Knowledge@Wharton (upenn.edu)

13. 2 INTEGRATED
FRAMEWORK
The Glowinkowski™ Integrated Framework
components point towards performance;
through Organisational Climate: ‘how it
feels’ to work there. Climate, is entirely
people focused and created by:
• Structure and Job Design: i.e. how the
organisation is assembled, coupled with
how jobs are created and defined within
that structure.
• Leadership Behaviour: how leaders
behave.
• Team processes: mission critical
processes for all organisations, e.g.
planning, communication, decision
making, development.
13
10%
20%
40%

14. 3VIABLE SYSTEMS MODEL
• Created by Stafford Beer in “Brain of the
Firm” (1972)
• Comprehensive but not easy to
comprehend
• Unlike standard project management
(e.g. PrinCE2) – assumes an evolving
external environment
• Fantastic for diagnosis (see ‘The Fractal
Organization’) of pathologies and design
of strategies and organisations.
• Not as scary but certainly as
comprehensive as it appears!
14
Fractals… recursion…

15. 4 HIERARCHICAL PROCESS
MODELS
• Based on the concept of holons (both a
part and a whole)
• Simplifies process mapping by using
layers (e.g. value stream maps) to
‘zoom’ up and down detail
• Connects the detail to the big picture –
e.g. operations to strategy – in a “golden
thread”
• Usually highlights lack of tactics (similar
to Beer’s VSM – but looser and simpler
to build)
• Boils down to How, Why (and When)
15
WHY
?
HOW
?

16. THINGSTO REMEMBER…
A. Holons & fractals
B. How & why
C. Diverge & converge
D. Analyse & synthesise
16

17. IFYOU ONLY
REMEMBER 1
THING...
YOU ARE ALSO A BUSINESS SYNTHESISER!

18. SERVANT-LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Monica Zimmerman
Patrick Hoverstadt
John Klymshyn
Chengwei Liu
John Morgan
Henry Ratter
Stella Bida
Jane Lewis
Kent Keith
18
www.servantleadershipconference.com
Discount code:
IIBAFeb10
Steve Glowinkowski
Adam Thompson
Charlotte Valeur
Richard Claydon
Susan Liautaud
Penny Pullan
David Bovis
Bill Bellows
David Weir

19. THANKYOU!
EMMA@BAKERFISH.COM
HTTP://SERVANTLEADERSHIPCONFERENCE.COM
Discount code:
IIBAFeb10