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Systems Thinking Quotes

Browse 183 quotes about Systems Thinking.

Systems Thinking Quotes

“If we want to solve problems effectively...we must keep in mind not only many features but also the influences among them. Complexity is the label we will give to the existence of many interdependent variables in a given system. The more variables and the greater their interdependence, the greater the system's complexity. Great complexity places high demands on a planner's capacity to gather information, integrate findings, and design effective actions. The links between the variables oblige us to attend to a great many features simultaneously, and that, concomitantly, makes it impossible for us to undertake only one action in a complex system. A system of variables is "interrelated" if an action that affects or meant to affect one part of the system will also affect other parts of it. Interrelatedness guarantees that an action aimed at one variable will have side effects and long-term repercussions. A large number of variables will make it easy to overlook them. We might think of complexity could be regarded as an objective attribute of systems. We might even think we could assign a numerical value to it, making it, for instance, the product of the number of features times the number of interrelationships. If a system had ten variables and five links between them, then its "complexity quotient", measured in this way would be fifty. If there are no links, its complexity quotient would be zero. Such attempts to measure the complexity of a system have in fact been made. Complexity is not an objective factor but a subjective one. Supersignals reduce complexity, collapsing a number of features into one. Consequently, complexity must be understood in terms of a specific individual and his or her supply of supersignals. We learn supersignals from experience, and our supply can differ greatly from another individual's. Therefore there can be no objective measure of complexity.”

ComplexitySystems ThinkingSystems AnalysisSystems Engineering
Book:The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations
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“We have minds that are equipped for certainty, linearity and short-term decisions, that must instead make long-term decisions in a non-linear, probabilistic world.”

LeadershipRiskUncertaintyNeuroscienceChange ManagementSystems ThinkingScience And Change
Book:The Science of Successful Organizational Change: How Leaders Set Strategy, Change Behavior, and Create an Agile Culture
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“The limits on a growing system may be temporary or permanent. The system may find ways to get around them for a short while or a long while, but eventually there must come some kind of accommodation, the system adjusting to the constraint, or the constraint to the system, or both to each other. In that accommodation come some interesting dynamics. Whether the constraining balancing loops originate from a renewable or nonrenewable resource makes some difference, not in whether growth can continue forever, but in how growth is likely to end.”

Systems ThinkingSystems AnalysisSystems Engineering
Book:Thinking in Systems: A Primer
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“With the subsequent strong support from cybernetics , the concepts of systems thinking and systems theory became integral parts of the established scientific language, and led to numerous new methodologies and applications -- systems engineering, systems analysis, systems dynamics, and so on.”

ThinkingLanguageStrongSupportTheoryConceptsAnalysisApplicationEngineeringDynamicsSystems ThinkingMethodologyCyberneticsSystems AnalysisSystems Theory
Book:The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems
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“No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service - from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly. That's systems thinking.”

ThinkingFirstsHelpingTogetherStageProductsReflectionIntentionFinalsIslandsWorking TogetherInitialsIntegratedMaintenanceUsageSystems Thinking
Author:Donald A. Norman
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“The problems with willpower are many, but they may hardly be noticed by the person focused narrowly on success. First, there is little economy of means; in systems thinking terms, we act without leverage. We attain our goals, but the effort is enormous and we may find ourselves exhausted and wondering if it was worth it when we have succeeded. Ironically, people hooked on willpower may actually look for obstacles to overcome, dragons to slay, and enemies to vanquish--to remind themselves and others of their own prowess.”

PeopleIfsThinkingFirstsLooksMayMeanLittlesPersonsProblemGoalTermEffortWonderEnemyEconomyOvercomingObstaclesFocusedEnormousDragonsWorth ItExhaustedWillpowerHookedSystems ThinkingProwessVanquish
Author:Peter Senge
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“Since the election [of Donald Trump], I've been thinking about a lot of theory. Lots of [Michel] Foucault and [Karl] Marx, thinking about different systems, thinking about power. Trying to figure out what I can take and learn from history as a tool for getting through whatever is happening right now, which feels very significant and major.”

ThinkingFeelsTryingI CanDifferentFiguresTheoryTrumpRight NowMajorsHappeningsToolsElectionSignificantSystems Thinking
Author:Morgan Parker
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“Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing ‘patterns of change’ rather than static ‘snapshots.’”

ThinkingSeeingDisciplinePatternsFrameworkStaticSystems ThinkingSnapshotsSystems Change
Book:The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization: First edition
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