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Tools of a System Thinker

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Tools of a System Thinker

The 6 Fundamental Concepts of Systems Thinking

Medium,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The more you understand the context of a problem, the better will you be able to solve it.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Most likely, you are familiar with this piece of advice: If you want to solve a problem, break it down into its parts. But in today’s highly interconnected and fast-changing world, you need to be able to connect the dots. Award-winning designer and educator Leyla Acaroglu encourages you to think about the world in terms of dynamic systems, whose individual components interact with and influence one another. With roots in biology, ecology and other scientific disciplines, “systems thinking” is becoming an increasingly important competency in solving issues in diverse areas such as public policy and managing corporations. In a short article posted on the Medium platform, Acaroglu introduces six fundamental concepts on which systems thinking is based. Her descriptions are easy to follow and supplemented with catchy graphics. Regardless of the problem you are trying to solve at work or at home, getAbstract believes that you will benefit from this problem-solving approach. 

Summary

A “systems mind-set” allows you to tackle complex problems more effectively. These six core concepts will get you started:

  1. “Interconnectedness” – To understand the complexity of life, assume that “everything is interconnected” and depends on something else to survive. Humans can’t live without air and water; a chair couldn’t exist without wood derived from a tree, and so on.
  2. “Synthesis” – The goal of systems thinking is to combine or synthesize disparate elements to...

About the Author

Leyla Acaroglu is a designer and founder of the UnSchool of Disruptive Design, as well as the two design agencies Disrupt Design and Eco Innovators. 


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