Designers and developers don't have to be at odds. Use this method to communicate better and embrace complexity together.

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

15. Flickr concept map

16. Brand concept map

17. Plants 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!