We are happy to announce that OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría launched OPSI’s report “Embracing Innovation in Government: Global Trends 2018” today at the World Government Summit! The event in Dubai is the largest annual gathering in the world focused on shaping the future of governments through innovation. The report is the result of a global […]

World Government Summit and OECD

Embracing Innovation in Government Global Trends 2018

Governments are using innovation to lead a paradigm shift in the way they provide services. The most innovative approaches refrain from layering one reform on top of another, instead repacking them in ways that allow them to get to the real purpose of the underlying change.

Systems approaches step back and view the entire operation of government as an interconnected system rather than
disparate pieces. They transform and re-align the underlying processes and methods to change the way government works in a cross-cutting way, while involving all of the affected actors both inside and outside government. In so doing, they leverage a number of tools and enabling conditions to succeed.

SEVERAL THEMES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN THIS AREA:
Innovators are embracing systems approaches to tackle complex problems, while also transcending administrative boundaries.
Countries are getting better at problem diagnostics to
initiate systems change.
Systems approaches involve trade-offs which must be evaluated.
Systems innovators are looking for scale: From incremental to radical.
Innovators use systems approaches to transform the public sector itself.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Focus on a problem, not a method.
2. Apply new problem diagnostic tools.
3. Analyse the potential systemic effects and value trade-offs of innovations.
4. Stay open to emergent, bottom-up change.
5. Experiment with transformative change inside
government.

Highlights
Systems approaches and enablers

7
CASE STUDY: APEX – Singapore
APEX is a whole-of-government platform which
establishes common application programming interfaces
(APIs) that allow public agencies to share data with other
agencies and private entities. APEX enables different
government data programmes to talk to each other,
providing uniform governance, consistency and reliable
performance. It enables innovation through a central
catalogue and self-service portal where innovators can
easily leverage common APIs as building blocks to create
new services and experiences for citizens. One of the
initial pilots is MyInfo, a service that removes the need for
citizens to repeatedly provide their personal information
to government services. APEX addresses a major systemic
challenge: systems interoperability.
CASE STUDY: Predictiv – United Kingdom
Predictiv is an online platform for running behavioural
experiments. It enables governments to run randomised
controlled trials (RCTs) with an online population of
participants, and to test whether new policies and
interventions work before they are deployed in the real
world. Predictiv has the potential to profoundly change
governments’ working methods by drastically reducing
the time needed to test new interventions. In addition,
while time constraints and political realities sometimes
make it hard to run “field trials” on live policy, Predictiv
makes experimental methods more accessible.
CASE STUDY: Free Agents and GC Talent Cloud
– Canada
Canada has been testing several models for recruiting and
mobilising talent within the public service in the digital
age. The most ambitious of its projects is the Talent Cloud,
which aims to become a validated, searchable repository
of cross-sector talent. It envisions a digital marketplace
where workers have access to rights, benefits and union
representation, while retaining the flexibility to choose
work inside and outside government, as offered. It
represents a departure from the permanent hiring model
in the public service, instead organising talent and skills
for project-based work. While still at the visionary stage,
Talent Cloud has produced several spin-off projects, such
as Free Agents, that are innovative and successful in their
own right.

Trend 2: Systems approaches 45
Case Study: APEX – Singapore 62
Case Study: Predictiv – United Kingdom 67
Case Study: Free Agents and GC Talent Cloud
– Canada 71

Source: Embracing Innovation in Government: Global Trends 2018 – Observatory of Public Sector Innovation Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

Source: A complexity based diagnostic tool for tackling wicked problems – Emergence: Complexity and Organization

Source: Norbert Wiener Learning Center

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/systems-cafe-birmingham-summer-2018-tickets-45755392611

In my talks about ‘commissioning’, ‘leadership’, ‘transformation’, and ‘systems thinking’, I often show people a picture of a bridge and a river – to start a conversation about how we are dealing with living systems rather than mechanistic ones. And to get people to think about the dangers of creating ‘improvements’ that depend on intentional, ‘rational’ control in a system where complexity and the ecosystemic nature has been destroyed by the demand for legibility. (And, since people come up with their own ideas, it often illustrates a lot more).

This example from David Chapman is a brilliant illustration of what this is actually about – a likely ‘water improvement scheme’, destroying a sustainable, beautiful (I presume) beaver dam has created an unsustainable system – but one shaped

It’s yet another example of how we systemically prefer the illusion of control to the possibility of allowing:
https://twitter.com/Meaningness/status/991098498282999809

(cf the normalbaum / Seeing Like A State and the risks of legibility): https://model.report/s/z7wn6e/the_normalbaum

archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://model.report/s/z7wn6e/the_normalbaum – appears not to be working:

Continues in source: The other side of identity – Medium

Continues in source:  Machine Learning’s ‘Amazing’ Ability to Predict Chaos | Quanta Magazine

Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies

by Geoffrey West

Penguin, 479 pp., $30.00

Geoffrey West spent most of his life as a research scientist and administrator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, running programs concerned not with nuclear weapons but with peaceful physics. After retiring from Los Alamos, he became director of the nearby Santa Fe Institute, where he switched from physics to a broader interdisciplinary program known as complexity science. The Santa Fe Institute is leading the world in complexity science, with a mixed group of physicists, biologists, economists, political scientists, computer experts, and mathematicians working together. Their aim is to reach a deep understanding of the complexities of the natural environment and of human society, using the methods of science.

Scale is a progress report, summarizing the insights that West and his colleagues at Santa Fe have achieved. West does remarkably well as a writer, making a complicated world seem simple. He uses pictures and diagrams to explain the facts, with a leisurely text to put the facts into their proper setting, and no equations. There are many digressions, expressing personal opinions and telling stories that give a commonsense meaning to scientific conclusions. The text and the pictures could probably be understood and enjoyed by a bright ten-year-old or by a not-so-bright grandparent.

The title, Scale, needs some clarification. To explain what his book is about, West added the subtitle “The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies.” The title tells us that the universal laws the book lays down are scaling laws. The word “scale” is a verb meaning “vary together.” Each scaling law says that two measurable quantities vary together in a particular way.

We suppose that the variation of each quantity is expressed as a percentage rate of increase or decrease. The scaling law then says that the percentage rate for quantity A is a fixed number k times the percentage rate for quantity B. The number k is called the power of the scaling law. Since the percentage changes of A and B accumulate with compound interest, the scaling law says that A varies with the kth power of B, where now the word “power” has its usual mathematical meaning. For example, if a body is falling without air resistance, the scaling law between distance fallen and time has k=2. The distance varies with the square of time. You fall 16 feet in one second, 64 feet in two seconds, 144 feet in three seconds, and so on.

Another classic example of a scaling law is the third law of planetary motion, discovered by the astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1618. Kepler found by careful observation that the time it takes for a planet to orbit the sun scales with the three-halves power of the diameter of its orbit. That means that the square of the time is proportional to the cube of the distance. Kepler measured the periods and diameters of the orbits of the six planets known in his time, and found that they followed the scaling law precisely. Fifty-nine years later, Isaac Newton explained Kepler’s laws of planetary motion as consequences of a mathematical theory of universal gravitation. Kepler’s laws gave Newton the essential clues that led to the theoretical understanding of the physical universe.

There is a scaling law in biology as important as Kepler’s third law in astronomy. It ought to have the name of Motoo Kimura attached to it, since he was the first to understand its importance, but instead it is known as the law of genetic drift. Genetic drift is one of the two great driving forces of evolution, the other being natural selection. Darwin is rightly honored for his understanding of natural selection as a main cause of evolution, but he failed to include genetic drift in his picture because he knew nothing about genes.

Continues in source: The Key to Everything | by Freeman Dyson | The New York Review of Books

Thursday, January 18, 2018

The Hidden Rule that Shapes Trees, Lightning, and Cracks in the Earth

Seeing bare tree branches silhouetted against a sunset sky is one of the best things about winter. Bereft of leaves, the trees reveal their intricate skeletons—almost fractal, reminiscent of neurons, or the network of blood vessels that perfuse the body. These complex patterns of growth and branching are produced by an invisible algorithm—less a blueprint than a computer program—encoded in the tree’s DNA, optimized over millions of years of evolution. Taking data on sunlight, airflow, and proximity to other branches, the tree regulates the expression of growth hormones to ensure that it’s making the most of its space. With all the care that goes into their creation, it’s no surprise that the patterns they produce come out so marvelously complex.

What is surprising, and even more marvelous, is when similarly complex patterns emerge almost out of nowhere, in the fractures running through an ice sheet, or glass, or—in the Complex Flow Laboratory at Swansea University—something as seemingly mundane as air in wet sand.

The winding cracks in this image were created naturally by compressed air injected into wet sand, with color denoting when they formed—red is earliest, violet is latest. Image Credit: Campbell, Ozturk, & Sandnes (2017). Physical Review Applied.

How does a system of nothing more than mud and air mirror the fractal beauty of biological life? Dr. Bjornar Sandnes and the students under his direction at Swansea have spent years figuring out how these patterns arise, injecting compressed air into narrow glass cells, tightly packed with sand and saturated with water.

Image Credit: Campbell, Ozturk, & Sandnes (2017). Physical Review Applied.

These cells create a “window” that lets the researchers study how the gas works its way through the mixture—sometimes bubbling, sometimes forming fingerlike projections, or labyrinths of cracks.

This figure, from an earlier work by Sandnes and his collaborators, shows how the gas’ behavior depends on the density of the grains (on the y-axis), and the gas injection rate (on the x-axis). Image Credit: Sandnes, et al. Nature Communications (2011).

“We study these flow patterns because they are important in many natural and industrial systems,” explains Sandnes, “but first and foremost because we are curious to discover how such beautiful structures can grow spontaneously…and what physical mechanisms shape their form and function.”

By measuring and analyzing the properties of these complex flow patterns, Sandnes and his students have developed mathematical tools to describe the interplay among forces that gives rise to these entrancingly organic-looking structures, sharing their findings near the end of last year in the American Physical Society’s journal Physical Review Applied.

A variety of the so-called “invasion patterns” formed by the gas, depending on how fast it gets pumped in to the cell. Image Credit: Campbell, Ozturk, & Sandnes (2017). Physical Review Applied.

“Physically, the spatial density of the patterns are so striking that it begs to be investigated,” says Deren Ozturk, a PhD student in the Complex Flow Lab. “It’s why I joined the team—non-biological natural patterns are particularly fascinating to me.”

For all their complexity, though, the principle that governs the formation of these fractures turns out to be surprisingly simple.

As air is pushed into the system, the sand’s fractures grow in a “stick-slip” fashion, spreading in short bursts interspersed with periods where nothing seems to be happening. During those “stick” periods, though, gas is still being injected, and the air pressure inside the fractures rises. When that pressure becomes great enough, it pushes aside grains of sand, expanding into the space that they had occupied—a “slip”. But the displaced grains, forced out into the surrounding bulk, create a denser region surrounding the newly formed fracture. In that region around the fracture, called a compaction front, the extra-dense packing of the sand makes it harder for the air to create a new inroad.

When the gas manages to spread out, it tends to follow the path of least resistance, pushing aside the least-densely-packed grains to sprout a new branch of the fracture from an existing one. As a result, the compaction fronts around existing fractures create a sort of shield that causes new branches to shy away from them, to spread out into their own space instead. Since following the path of least resistance means giving other fractures a wide berth, the result is a design that naturally strikes a balance between spreading out and filling the space efficiently—a little like the branches of a tree.

If you’re a science enthusiast, you might feel a sense of déjà vu watching the fractures spread through the cell in that video—it looks a lot like a stop-motion version of a Lichtenberg figure being etched into wood, as high-voltage electricity tries to find a path to ground.

Made by applying a conductive solution to the surface of the wood, then applying an extremely high voltage, Lichtenberg figures are as dangerous to create as they are beautiful.

This similarity isn’t a coincidence—the burnt wood in a Lichtenberg figure forms a conductive channel for electrons, allowing them to flow easily into that space the same way that air flows into the fractures. But the high concentration of charge in those established channels pushes away the charges in neighboring ones, causing them to spread out from one another.

The rule also applies in air, as seen in this ultra-slow-motion shot of lightning finding its way to ground.

It’s the same story as the sand’s compaction fronts, only with voltage rather than mechanical pressure. It’s no surprise, then, that voltage in wires is commonly described as being closely analogous to fluid pressure in pipes, in the “hydraulic analogy” of electricity.

Continues in source: Physics Buzz: The Hidden Rule that Shapes Trees, Lightning, and Cracks in the Earth

starting points:

worldwide map of systems thinking learning opportunities
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1KiZfEQGwEaAsOiEBjTdPN9LC5Pk&hl=en_US&ll=47.71313449732236%2C-119.22949348028959&z=4
Please send updates to Nick Ananin at nick.online@foresters.org

Open University system thinking courses – one ‘gold standard’ (I think) and very accessible.

There is a FREE course at http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/mastering-systems-thinking-practice/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab
more free courses at the OU:
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engineering-technology/systems-thinking-free-courses

And the full courses are:
https://www.open.ac.uk/choose/ou/systemsthinking

Others:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/systems-thinking-complexity

https://www.edx.org/course/u-lab-leading-emerging-future-mitx-15-671-1x-0

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/complexity-and-uncertainty

https://www.coursera.org/learn/systems-thinking

https://www.plusacumen.org/courses/systems-practice

https://iversity.org/en/courses/thinking-complexity

https://prepadviser.com/systems-thinking-complexity-mooc/

http://systemslearning.org/on-line-course/

http://complexitylabs.io/course/systems-theory-course/

https://alison.com/course/systems-engineering

not free:
https://www.iseesystems.com/store/training/systems-thinking-concepts/

My last blog explored how earning my BA in Organizational Communication deepened my understanding of systems and described three system thinking approaches. Since earning my BA, and while continuing to use system thinking approaches, I expanded my curiosity and understanding into the world of complexity thinking. One of my mentors, Douglas Drane, has been a key influencer of my expansion in this field. Doug’s life work has been focused on his Complexity Model for business development, which presents an understanding of business as a complex adaptive system. The Model was based on decades of collaboration with brilliant minds across many disciplines to understand how small teams of aligned, high performance individuals can change the workplace for everyone. Doug and I have had countless inspiring conversations of how the world would be a better place if more people were complexity thinkers, which became the spark that brought The HumanCurrent podcast to life.

Three amazing years since starting the complexity podcast, I continue to learn about complexity science and grow as a complexity thinker. My curiosity to further understand and apply complexity thinking at work and in other areas of my life led me back to school, this time to expand my complexity thinking lens as a leader. I experienced metanoia from earning my MA in Leadership from Royal Roads University; it was a transformational experience that shifted my mindset and understanding of the world and the complex adaptive systems that exist in the world.

Douglas Drane, Mentor & Co-founder of the HumanCurrent

As a systems thinker, I don’t ever recall a time that I couldn’t see systems. However, as I was learning about the various complexity terms and aspects, light bulb after light bulb went off, and having the words that explained what I understood gave me more confidence. What I learned from my MA was rich and invaluable, and while it did not result in me being fluent in “complexity speak”, the following are some of the terms that have especially resonated with me and continually show up in my work, life, and all the things I do.

Complicated versus complex. This was one of my first ah-has—a big light bulb. Understanding that a process or situation in a complicated system has a solution, even if it is confusing and involves many steps, is different than a complex system. Take an organizational chart for example. The flow of who reports to who can seem confusing, but one way or another it can be mapped out. However, taking the same organizational chart and adding the personalities, relationships, and history to those on the chart reveals a complex situation. I like to think of it as complicated situations can be solved or figured out; whereas, complex situations are something you navigate through. The “complex” part of a system implies there are layers of interconnectedness and interdependencies. Navigating through complexity requires a greater level of understanding, flexibility, and curiosity.

I’ll also note that there are complexity scientists who are working on new mathematical models to work through today’s complexity. You can learn more and hear about some examples through our interviews with people like Yaneer Bar-Yam, Jean Boulton, and Melanie Mitchell.

Complex ADAPTIVE systems. I had just grasped the understanding between complicated and complex systems when another light bulb moment happened with adding “adaptive” to the system. This was big for me. I had this epiphany that by understanding what complex adaptive system meant I was understanding the foundation of ‘complexity speak’. YAY me! All of a sudden, everywhere I looked I could see complex adaptive systems—systems that were always there, but it was like I saw them with a new lens. For example, the ecosystem, politics, global economics and socioeconomics, families and communities, and so forth. By adding “adaptive” to complex systems, it implies that systems are dynamic, that there is constant change, evolution and movement within the system.

“Often used in ‘adaptive systems’, the term ‘adaptive’ refers to interacting entities that individually or together are able to respond to environmental changes or changes between the interacting parts. The term can refer to a temporary modification to meet a changing context, or a long-term, permanent modification.”

Emergence. The New England Complex Systems Institute stated that “emergence refers to the existence or formation of collective behaviors — what parts of a system do together that they would not do alone.” While earning my MA, emergence was a key theme as I coded data for my thesis. Here at the HumanCurrent, my co-host and I have trusted and embraced emergence to guide our work forward. We continue to be in awe when the perfect guest presents him/herself at the perfect time. On the podcast we have talked about how we trust the process, which we believe allows for emergence or for us to recognize and appreciate emergence. I would even go as far to say that the HumanCurrent is successful because of our philosophy and value of emergence.

“Emergence describes a process whereby component parts interact to form synergies, these synergies then add value to the combined organization which gives rise to the emergence of a new macro-level of organization that is a product of the synergies between the parts and not simply the properties of the parts themselves. ”

Feedback loops. While earning my MA I read countless articles and books, many of which I still refer to regularly. Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline is one of the books at the top of my list, especially when I think of systems thinking, personal mastery, and feedback loops. In my attempt to synthesize Senge’s definition of feedback loops, I’d say that feedback is a reciprocating flow of influence, which is both cause and effect. Of course for a more in depth description, I would strongly recommend grabbing a copy of Senge’s book.

A significant ah-ha from my studies and Senge’s book was that feedback loops can be reinforcing and balancing (negative and positive), which are influenced by patterns and behaviors. I especially recommend Senge’s book if you’re interested in learning more about how feedback loops affect behaviors within a system and how those behaviors can influence a system’s behaviors.

“Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves. ”

Interdependencies. As a lifelong systems thinker and growing complexity thinker, seeing and understanding interdependencies came fairly easy. However, a big ah-ha for me with understanding interdependencies was not in knowing the definition, but rather in appreciating what my understanding had to offer to a situation. I’ll explain. I had this impression that seeing and understanding interdependencies would make navigating through a situation or relationship easier. Boy was I wrong. You know that saying, “ignorance is bliss”? I think that in many cases, before I had an understanding of interdependencies, my ignorance made things easier to an extent. I could just “keep it real”, do what I thought was best, and say what I wanted to say. With that mindset came all kinds of unintended consequences (and a great example of a feedback loop).

Because interdependencies exist within complex adaptive systems, there is no ‘easy button’. In fact, it’s not about finding a solution; it is about navigating through a situation. While having an understanding of interdependencies doesn’t provide a magic formula or easy button, it does provide a deeper level of understanding and appreciation to navigate through situations in a meaningful way. This requires a mind shift and, I believe, leads to a heightened level of mindfulness where we appreciate the collective whole, not just the parts.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

These five lessons —complicated versus complex, complex adaptive systems, emergence, feedback loops, and interdependencies— have fundamentally fostered my complexity thinking. As a result, I believe I am a better co-host, employee, friend, and human. Another ah-ha just happened. Doug was right, the more complexity thinkers there are, the better the world will be. Thank you, Doug!

You can listen to the HumanCurrent podcast here and don’t forget to subscribe in iTunes. Be sure to listen to our recent episode where we share our interview with Data Scientist & Professor at NECSI, Alfredo Morales. 

Source: Five Lessons on Complex Adaptive Systems — HumanCurrent

Source: Improvisation Blog: Transactions and Transduction modelling in the Redesign of Institutions

What is STREAMS?

STREAMS is an acronym that stands for:

 Systems Thinking, Real Enterprise Architecture and Management Science.

It is a set of ideas about how to build and manage an Enterprise based on a common, rigorous STREAMS Philosophy. It leads to methodologies, methods and techniques for building, managing, evolving and innovating Enterprises that can be applied in practice but, like an Engineering approach, its methods are grounded in rigorous research and understanding.

Common to the three main strands, or tributaries, of STREAMS is the Use of Models: conceptual models of a variety of descriptions and characteristics ranging from highly complex mathematical models informed by volumes of quantitative data grounded in empirical observation and measurement to simple qualitative models expressing some simple truth. The purpose of the models is to guide Decision Making.

STREAMS is a set of ideas that are both transdisciplinary and integrative of theory and practice. It is “Trans-disciplinary” in the sense that it eclectically draws on ideas, theories, principles and methods from a range of academic disciplines – deliberately paying no heed to the traditional divisions in universities – or similar academic institutions. It is “Integrative” in the sense that is seeks to blend these ideas into a coherent, well-founded theoretical framework – but also incorporate emrpically grounded and proven ideas and practices from Practice, not just academic theory. STREAMS is not intended to be an academic exercise in the social science but theoretically-sound ideas and methods for practitioners in engineering enterprises.

much much more in source: STREAMS – STREAMS Wiki