In the early 60s, Robert Axelrod was a math major messing around with refrigerator-sized computers. Then a dramatic global crisis made him wonder about the space between a rock and a hard place, and whether being good may be a good strategy. With help from Andrew Zolli and Steve Strogatz, we tackle the prisoner’s dilemma, a classic thought experiment, and learn about a simple strategy to navigate the waters of cooperation and betrayal. Then Axelrod, along with Stanley Weintraub, takes us back to the trenches of World War I, to the winter of 1914, and an unlikely Christmas party along the Western Front.
Prof. Ray Ison (http://www.open.ac.uk/people/rli2) has been a resilient voice advocating for systems approaches in both Australia and the UK for many years, as well as a deeply committed systems practitioner and teacher. In this last session, we heard from Ray about his practice, and his new book (with Ed Straw) The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking: Governance in a Climate Emergency. (https://www.routledge.com/The-Hidden-Power-of-Systems-Thinking-Governance-in-a-Climate-Emergency/Ison-Straw/p/book/9781138493995)
You can view the video of our chat here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FYH9W9WpTU)
taken from their website – www.thesystemsschool.org
join our community of practice https://thesystemsschool.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe
Next Session: Examining power, lived experience and co-design
Thursday June 4th from 1:00-2:30pm Melbourne time
*members of the community of practice will receive a
calendar invitation with connection details separately*
We are pleased to share that in conjunction with our Power in the System course ( https://www.the-systems-school.org/copy-of-webinar-series ) , we will be hosting a virtual fireside chat with a few special guest practitioners. These folks are working in the field and engaging with issues of power, co-design, lived experience and systems. We’ll be hearing from them about how they are navigating these topics in their own practice.
Special Guests:
Angela Walsh and Nadia Albert work for Create Space Consultancy
https://www.createspaceconsultancy.com/ in the areas of intersectional whole of system and community change for enabling gender equality, preventing family violence, respectful relationships and anti-racism
Emma Blomkamp (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmablomkamp/) is a facilitator, researcher and strategic designer, dedicated to co-creating compassionate systems
Morgan Lee Cataldo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganleecataldo/) is the Senior Manager for Youth Engagement at Berry Street and Independent Participatory Design Practitioner
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Systems Practice Self-Assessment
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Back in December we wrapped up the inaugural ‘introduction to systems thinking’ webinar learning series. During one of the sessions, I introduced this brief survey tool to help you assess where you might begin building your systems practice (http://bit.ly/systemspractices) !
You may like to return to this survey over time and see how your progress is developing and see new areas for you to explore.
taken
Throughout my professional career, I have worked at three different companies, each specializing in systems engineering. Ironically, I have found that even though systems has been the focus of each company, I didn’t find a true “systems” emphasis until I joined Vitech. As the VP of Professional Services (and my boss), Zane Scott, likes to put it, that requires a “focus on understanding systems and working from the perspective of that understanding.” A company true to the “systems” in “systems engineering” will manage the organization as a system itself, being deliberate and tactical regarding the management of the organization, and applying systems engineering principles ensuring organizational success. Below are five of the many systems engineering practices key to successfully engineering an organizational system:
In model-based systems engineering, we tend to focus on requirements and design, but how many MBSE implementations consider aligning design with verification and validation (V&V)? The Vitech systems metamodel is especially capable of supporting V&V activities throughout the development lifecycle on either side of the “V.” Let’s take a look.
The typical “V,” illustrated in the following figure, depicts verification planning activities on the left side of the V, and verification execution activities on the right side of the “V.” In reality, verification and validation activities are also conducted on the left side of the “V” in conjunction with system development activities. Left side verification and validation typically consists of verification by analysis using simulation to validate the evolving system design, while right side V&V consists of the traditional unit, integration, system, and operational testing of the system as it is integrated and field tested.
Figure 1. The Engineering Model
If V&V is in reality aligned with system development, what metamodel can be defined to guide these activities? The world of verification and validation tends to vary more from organization to organization than typical systems engineering. Typically, systems engineers speak about requirements, behavior, and system design. V&V, on the other hand, is implemented in many different ways depending on your engineering domain, organization, or field. Despite this variability, the Vitech systems metamodel provides a means to formalize V&V methodologies and connect V&V with systems engineering. An excerpt of the Vitech systems metamodel, included in the following figure, depicts four unique classes specific to V&V, and describes the relationships among these classes, and with other classes in the systems metamodel.
The Covid 19 pandemic has given me an opportunity to observe, meditate and learn about complexity in action. In today’s post, I am looking at “truths” in complexity. Humans, more than any other species, have the ability to change their environment at a faster pace. They are also able to maintain belief systems over time and act on them autonomously. These are good reasons to call all “human systems” complex systems.
The Theories of Truth:
Generally, there are three theories of truth in philosophy. They are as follows:
Correspondence theory of truth – very simply put, this means that what you have internally in your mind corresponds one-to-one with the external world. The statement you might make such as – “the cat is on the mat” is true, if there are truly a cat and a mat, and if that cat is on that mat. The main objection to this…
Another enthusiastic systems learner, August has a few projects set out below – and, in particular, another nascent community, the Project [+] Community Learning Discover server: https://discord.gg/9EN8TQU
According to Handy, the best time to start a new ‘curve’ is before you reach the peak of your existing one! That way, you will be starting something new when you still have the resources, and the spirit, to take it to new heights. In contrast, most people think of doing something new only when they have reached the bottom of what they are presently involved in.
Background to the sigmoid curve:
Successful industries are constantly re-inventing themselves, even when things are going well. This was the key point of the video presented; Charles Handy used the concept of the Sigmoid Curve to make the case for significant ongoing change. The sigmoid, or S-shaped, curve charts the trajectory of every successful human system. There is always a first period of experimentation and learning which is followed by a time of growth and development. Ultimately, however, every curve turns downward. The only thing that varies is the length and duration of each part of the curve.
Reference: Chapter Three in Charles Handy (1995) The Empty Raincoat – Making Sense of the Future Random House Australia ISBN 0 09 930125 3
Today, the speed of every curve seems to be increasing. To keep on growing, the successful industry, organisation and individual, must develop a second curve out of the first. The new curve, however, must start before the first one peaks, at Point A, when all the evidence is that there is no need for change.
Most organisations do not change until they get frightened, at Point B. This is often too late. By then the leaders have lost credibility, resources are depleted and the energy for creative thinking is low. Forty per cent of the Fortune 500 companies of seven years ago no longer exist as independent entities.
Change at Point A, however, results in a period of great confusion, represented by the shaded area in the drawing. At this time there are two contrasting and often competing cultures. The old ways, products and people must continue their efforts to maintain the first curve’s momentum.
At the same time, however, the industry must experiment with new ways and new ideas; and not all of them work. The challenge of the second curve is to find a way to start that curve while still building upon the success, learning and maturity gained from the first curve. When standing at Point A, one is presented with two confusing and opposing vistas. When one looks back along the sigmoid curve, they see success, growth and satisfaction. But at Point A, one can also look the other direction and see over the horizon of the curve and see the fall towards Point B. The opportunity is to openly look at what Point B tells you, to see the trends that can lead from A to B, but then to use this information to design a pathway from the current Point A, to the Point A on the next sigmoid curve – a pathway of uninterrupted success.
Pasikowski S. (2017). Gregory Bateson’s cybernetic methodology: The ecosystem approach in empirical research.
In N. Bateson, M. Jaworska-Witkowska (Eds.), Towards an ecology of mind: Batesonian legacy continued (63-84). Dąbrowa Górnicza: Scientific Publishing University of Dąbrowa Górnicza.
Proponents of #SystemsThinking often espouse holism to counter over-emphasis on reductionism. Reading some definitions from an encyclopedia positions one in the context of the other (François 2004).
–begin paste —
1560 HOLISM 1) – 3) “A descriptive and investigative strategy which seeks to find the smallest number of explanatory principles by paying careful attention to the emergent properties of the whole, as opposed to the behavior of the isolated parts, as chosen by the observer in a reductionist strategy” (T.F.H. ALLEN & T.B. STARR, 1982, p.270).
The term and the concept were introduced in 1926 by the South African general and statesman Jan SMUTS. The term was derived from the Greek: “holos” = whole.
SMUTS wrote: “The idea of wholes and wholeness should… not be confined to the biological domain: it covers both inorganic substances and the highest manifestations of the human spirit. Taking a plant…
A practical tool for designing effective policy interventions
ISM
There are many different theories which help us understand behaviour and change, drawn from many different disciplines. But there are fewer practical tools which allow practitioners to mobilise that theory, and apply it in developing and delivering behaviour change interventions on the ground.
ISM (standing for ‘Individual, Social, Material’) has been described as the most comprehensive of the available tools.
ISM is a multi-disciplinary tool for designing effective policy interventions, originally developed in the context of sustainability challenges. It was created by Andrew Darnton with colleagues at the University of Manchester, and launched by the Scottish Government in 2013.
ISM brings together into a single figure the main factors from the three disciplines most concerned with understanding behaviour: behavioural economics, social psychology, and sociology. The factors are arranged into three contexts, symbolised by a head (the Individual) in a circle (the Social) in a square (the Material). Evidence from reviews of international behaviour change interventions suggests that lasting change requires action in all three contexts (Southerton et al, 2011).
ISM was developed as a practical approach for intervening in complex systems, grounded in a deep understanding of behaviour. ISM offers a shortcut to the task of drawing on multiple models and theories, resulting in a tool which policymakers, analysts and practitioners of all stripes can pick up and run with – including in self-facilitated sessions. Used in this way, ISM supports approaches to policy development based on co-design and co-production, which in turn are vital for effective action in complex systems like obesity, biodiversity, or social inclusion, where no one organisation or actor holds all the levers over a given behaviour.
The process of using ISM is as important in producing results as the content of the model itself.
CECAN Webinar: COMPLEX-IT: User-friendly computational modelling software for exploring complex policy dataThursday 18th June 2020, 13:00 – 14:00 BST Presenters: Professor Brian Castellani (Sociology, Durham) Dr Corey Schimpf (Learning Analytics Scientist, Concord Consortium) Dr Pete Barbrook-Johnson (Senior Research Fellow, Surrey) You are warmly invited to join us for the following CECAN Webinar…Webinar Overview: We will use recent COVID-19 data from Public Health England to provide a quick introduction to the value of COMPLEX-IT (and its tutorial supported website) for modelling complex policy data. COMPLEX-IT is a case-based, mixed-methods platform for social inquiry into complex data/systems, designed to increase non-expert access to the tools of computational social science (i.e., cluster analysis, artificial intelligence, data visualization, data forecasting, and scenario simulation). In particular, COMPLEX-IT aids social inquiry though a heavy emphasis on learning about the complex data/system under study, which it does by (a) identifying and forecasting major and minor clusters/trends; (b) visualizing their complex causality; and (c) simulating scenarios for potential interventions. COMPLEX-IT is accessible through the web or can be run locally and is powered by R and the Shiny web framework. For more on the software, click here!
Session Objectives:Understand the basic purpose of COMPLEX-IT for modelling complex policy data;Survey COMPLEX-IT’s tutorial supported website;Run through a basic example of how COMPLEX-IT works, including its tab interface;Review the report that COMPLEX-IT generates at the end of an analysis, including its set of databases, figures, statistical results and additional materials. Presenter Biographies: Brian Castellani’s research involves advancing the tools of social complexity theory and computational social science for the study of public health and policy including COVID-19 and air quality. Corey Schimpf’s research focuses on computational modelling and software development and their application to engineering education and social science. Peter Barbrook-Johnson’s work involves the appraisal and evaluation of innovative public-private-partnerships, as well as advancing the usage of computational social system and systems mapping for public policy.
How to Join: This talk will take place via a Zoom Webinar – please click here to register for a place. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. In case you are unable to attend, a recording of the webinar will be uploaded to our website following the event.
This extraordinary global situation that we’re in right now calls for us to be able to appreciate and work with the world in a way that is complex and systemic. David Nabarro, a high-level advocate of living systems leadership and current Special Envoy of World Health Organization Director-General on Covid-19, has summed up the extent to which this crisis — and therefore how we must address it — is deeply systemic, in one of his recent Coronavirus narratives:
The anticipation [in response to Covid-19] goes beyond public health and hospital systems to the functioning of different settlements, arrangement for residential care, the resilience of systems for producing and distributing food as well as for ensuring people’s access to nutrition, employment, travel, trade. It involves all of society’s systems: for ensuring access to education, law and order, food and nutrition, employment, social protection and much more.
As I read ever more articles from distinguished and accomplished system change practitioners from different places in the world, I have been reflecting and sense-making through the lense of a framework that we use at the School of System Change.
Webinar: 5 Key Design Principles for a New Normal from the Work of Donella Meadows
Webinar: 5 Key Design Principles for a New Normal from the Work of Donella Meadows
June 30, 2020 11:00 am – 12:30pm PDT 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm EDT Register here
At a time so deeply painful for many, what design principles might we draw from to shape a positive new normal?
We are excited to partner with our friends at CoCreative for a June webinar offering focusing on the work and teachings of Donella Meadows. The webinar will explore some of the practical ideas that made Donella (Dana) Meadows so beloved by people interested in making a world that works for all.
If you are interested in Dana’s work and looking for a place to start, we recommend the following resources; each one is full of the deep thinking and deep caring that made Dana the exceptional leader and communicator that she was.
Envisioning a Sustainable World—a powerful video of Dana’s speech on the crucial role that visioning plays in bringing about the world we want
Tools for the Transition to Sustainability—in this chapter, Dana discusses the importance of visioning, networking, truth-telling, learning, and loving in the quest for sustainability
Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System—probably Dana’s most famous article, this piece illuminates Dana’s deep wisdom about how systems work and how we can manipulate them to create the most change
Dancing with Systems—another powerful piece about how people can work with systems once they lose the illusion of control over them
The Limits to Growth—the groundbreaking 1972 study that launched Donella Meadows onto the global stage as a leading climate thinker and writer
The spread of covid-19 and epidemics in general is all about exponential growth. Although, I deal with exponential growth in my work daily, I don’t have an immediate intuitive grasp for what it means in life until I actually think about it. To me I write down functions with the form and treat them as some abstract quantity. In fact, I often just look at differential equations of the form..
and treat them as some abstract quantity. In fact, I often just look at differential equations of the form..
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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