The ABCD of Systems Thinking

The first time I heard about Systems Thinking was back in 2017 when my team and I started building a more complex library of components to serve developers when updating our product. That first attempt would evolve into what we know today as a Design System, but the real change didn’t come with the outcome but with the learning process that opened a door to a new and more rational way of approaching problems with many touchpoints in common with other methodologies, like Design Thinking.

We can say that with the arrival and evolution of Design Systems we discovered a new way of approaching business, engineering and design problems, but before talking about the ‘How’, let’s talk about the ‘What’.

What is a system?

A System is a group of interrelated parts that work together performing multiple basic or complex functions. It is precisely this connection and interaction of the parts what makes a system work and form a single unit or entity. This simple and beautiful idea is present in many shapes and counts with a rich variety of purposes. From natural to artificial constructions, we can wonder with the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or learn more about the behavior of the Financial Systems and the markets across the world. We live, think and work in systems, they are the result of complex natural processes and our capacity to understand and recreate them.

The interesting part is that this simple concept of small units interacting with each other can be applied to the way we think, organize our lives or face new projects and challenges. This problem-solving approach can take multiple shapes based on the type of system and problem that is meant to be solved. I like to use a (simplified) scheme that explains one of the System Thinking approaches when it comes to building or reorganizing system structures. Let’s learn the alphabet!

A is for Audit

This point comes with 2 parts, the first one is about understanding and defining the system while the second one is about identifying its problems. Curiosity is a powerful tool at this stage, I invite you to use it!