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Tools for transformation

Systems Thinking & Systemic Design

Article, Research
October 7, 2024

“A set of things — people, cells, molecules or whatever — interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behaviour over time.”
“A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organised in a way that achieves something (function or purpose).” Meadows, 2008

Systemic Design:

Background When a challenge has multiple stakeholders and components, with complex interactions between them, it becomes difficult to plot a linear path towards a defined outcome. These kinds of challenges have been termed ‘cloud’ or ‘wicked’ problems: challenges so interdependent that there are no clear right or wrong solutions. In these circumstances levels of uncertainty mean a preferred ‘solution’ may just be “less bad” than other available options, or that successful approaches rely on testing and iteration to respond to changing levels of knowledge. The climate crisis, with its complex and complicated nature, at global and local levels, is a wicked problem.

Systems thinking

Systems thinking developed as a tool to improve responses to these kinds of problems, by taking into account the overall system as well as its individual parts. According to Peter Senge who brought systems thinking to mainstream management thinking through his book The Fifth Discipline (1990), its “a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns rather than static snapshots.” Though it has roots in the industrial world, and specifically Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the 1960s and 70s, its current influence also tracks back to the pioneering work of environmentalist Donella Meadows whose prescient thinking and book The Limits to Growth (1972) remain foundational for current climate response.

Systemic design

Systemic design is an emergent area of design practice which draws on systems thinking and builds on human-centred design and design thinking methodologies. It offers a structured design methodology which resembles familiar design processes with its setting out of sequential activities of (for example) exploring, reframing, creating and catalysing. It differs is in its positioning of a design challenge as a system of interdependencies and causalities rather than a fixed problem field. This is a significant departure from ‘traditional’ design practice; it introduces a broader field of enquiry and requires the designer to consider different ‘locations’ and forms of intervention within the system. It invites consideration of factors underexamined in traditional design practices, for example in its close attention to consequences to planet as well as people.

When are Systemic Design approaches relevant?

Systems Thinking and Systemic Design are not relevant to every challenge. Omidyar Systems Practice Workbook provides a helpful framework for deciding if systems practice is right for a project, considering the complexity of the challenge, the nature of the problem itself, the social dynamics around it, and the broader context. This framework assumes that an organisation adopts a systemic design approach as a central methodology; in fact, it can make sense to draw on Systems Thinking and introduce Systemic Design methods in facing any serious or complex problem, even when other methodologies are in play.

Systemic Design methodology and tools

There are several detailed Systemic Design approaches and toolkits available from a wide range of sources. The number and variety of these resources reflect that Systemic Design is not a fixed methodology, it is rather a mindset and a practice. It fits within a controlled sequence or structure and then draws on this wide range of tools as appropriate to the challenge at hand. The flexibility of approach can make Systematic Design challenging to adopt in traditional organisational environments. However, it is clear and accepted that thinking systemically is essential for our shared future, with ‘Embracing Complexity’ one of the four core Green Competencies recommended by the European Commission.

The Systemic Design mindset

A Systemic Design mindset is different to the usual approaches an individual or organisation might take to a straightforward challenge.

The School of System Change includes the following qualities and activities in their Systemic Practice Wheel:

Look at patterns
Understand agency, power and responsibility
Engage different perspectives
Work at different levels concurrently
Hold the whole picture
Constantly question assumptions
Embrace complexity by learning and adapting
Consider timescales

Systemic Design methodology

Though there are many Systemic Design frameworks with varying emphasis, they typically follow a 4-stage structure. For the UK Design Council’s Systemic Design Framework the stages are: Explore | Reframe | Create | Catalyse. For the School of Systems Change it is Define | Understand | Design | Deliver. The Systemic Design Toolkit extends to a 7-stage sequence. Irrespective of the favoured toolkit, the goal is a healthier system.

This always entails interdependent and sometimes looped processes something like the following:

Developing a shared goal.
Defining what a healthy system looks like in the long term, and outlining what part of that system might be a change project within reach of the current effort.
Understanding system behaviour.
Standing back, seeing patterns of behaviour not problems, and connecting the dots to speculate about cause and effect.
Drawing on diverse and multiple viewpoints and perspectives; top-down or expert driven actions are not as effective as those which are participatory.
Looking for a strategy to unlock (rather than impose) change.
Identifying the ‘leverage points’, or locations within the system where change might have impact. This involves creative and evaluative processes rather than a clear right vs wrong.
Developing the decision making and governance processes needed and adapting to suit.
Developing, executing and iterating an intervention.
Traditional design, development and delivery tools can be engaged to develop and execute a plan.
Feedback loops and iterative approaches then allow for the change to flow through the system, with flexible and adaptive responses assumed.

Ressource

Beyond Net Zero: A systemic design approach: New Systemic Design Framework by the Design Council (UK). It is the latest evolution of the double diamond. Developed to help designers solve complex challenges, like the climate crisis, and place people and planet at the heart of design.
LOOPY: A tool for thinking in systems – play with simulations, program by drawing, remix others’ simulations.

Systemic Design skills and roles

In their Systemic Design Framework (2021) UK’s Design Council describes four roles to be held in a systemic design process, those of Systems thinker, Leader and storyteller, Designer and maker and Connector and convener.

In thinking about the skills needed in a systemic design process it might be helpful to consider these roles and ensuring these skills are available within a team:

Does the team have the skills to see how everything is interconnected in a bigger picture, and zoom between the micro and the macro and across silos (systems thinking)
Is the team equipped to communicate what’s possible and why it’s important, in order to secure buy-in from stakeholders, partners and community (storytelling)
Can the team build what it needs to make change, with the creative and technical skills to ensure its fit for purpose (designing and making)
Is there capacity to ensure that spaces where people from different backgrounds come together are created and that good relationships are nurtured and maintained (connecting and convening)