Systems Thinking, Rich Mapping
and Conceptual Models
What is a system?
• Collection of “stuff”
• Dynamic, complex, interdependent
relationships
• Can't be decomposed into linear processes
• Can't be separated from the environment or
context in which they occur
• Feedback
What are systems?
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Economies
Ecosystems
Organizations
Markets
Projects
Social Networks
Leverage Points
• Small changes  big effects
• Leverage Points
• Access to information
• Incentives
• Delays
Do Systems Matter?
• GM closes plant in Fremont, California
(1982)
• Worst quality record
• Worst labour relations
• Highest employee absenteeism and drug
use
• Toyota opens Fremont plant in 1984
• Hires 80% of GM’s workforce
• Outstanding quality record
Relevance to Experience Design
• Web is an ecosystem
• Systems within the web
• eBay
• Blogosphere
• Digg, Flickr, MySpace
• Creating, influencing systems that
enable experiences
Introducing Systems Thinking
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CATWOE
Root Definitions
Rich Mapping/Conceptual Models
Case study
Systems Thinking
Conceptual Model
A Short History of Systems Thinking
Evolved from “Hard” systems theory in the
early 1970’s
Notable uses of Systems Thinking:
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National Health Service - UK - 1970’s
Shell Group - 1980’s
Cooum River Rehabilitation - India -1990’s
Elements of Systems Thinking
1. See the system as a process of inquiry
2. Understand system elements with the
“CATWOE” framework
3. Find the “root definitions” of the problem
4. Create models of purposeful activity with
Rich Mapping
The system is a process of enquiry
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CATWOE
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C - Customers
A - Actors
T - Transformative Process
W - Worldview
O - Owners
E - Environmental Constraints
Customers
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The beneficiaries of “t”
Actors
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Those who would do “t”
Transformation Process
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“t” - the conversion of input to output
Worldview
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The perspective that makes “t” meaningful
in context
Owners
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Those who could stop “t”
Environmental Constraints
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Elements which define the limits of the
system
Finding root definitions
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A description of a “human activity system”
which describes how a transformative
process will be undertaken and what is
expected as a result.
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Do X by Y to accomplish Z
Rich Mapping
Painting the house
CATWOE
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C - Homeowner
A - Homeowner
T - Unpainted house to painted house
W - Painting house will enhance appearance
O - Homeowner
E - Hand painting
Root Definition
A homeowner
self-owned and
paints
manned
a house
system
by hand
to paint
to
a house,its
byappearance.
conventional hand painting, in
improve
keeping with the overall decoration
scheme of the property in order to
enhance the visual appearance of the
property.
Rich Mapping
Why We Like Systems Thinking
• Illuminates the structures behind the structure
• Helps to engage us in thinking about problem
solving beyond just “requirements”
• Helps us understand the context(s) in which
we are delivering the appropriate IA to the
client
Putting Systems Thinking to Use
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Keep Systems Thinking simple by choosing
basic tools for the initial inquiry
Iteratively evaluate CATWOE elements as
the understanding of them evolves
Focus on where specific actions exist with
respect to system layers
Exploring Systems Thinking
The Client
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Large financial services institution
Multiple P&L Silos
Complex stakeholder ecosystem
Distributed accountable-ism
Biggest perceived client challenge: “IA”
Exploring Systems Thinking
The Agency
• New office with little
organizational history
• Large, young IA team
• Limited experience with large
clients
• Biggest perceived challenge:
“Anticipating Changes in
Client Needs”
How did we use Systems Thinking tools?
• Used CATWOE framework to help define and
model the system elements
• Used Rich Mapping to model parts of the
system relative to specific activities and to
identify true stakeholder relationships and
motivations
Looking at the Layers of the System
• Modeling was not just focusing on actions but
on layers
• We defined four layers in the relevant
system:
• Engagement Level
• Project Level
• Site Level
• Feature Level
• Focused on identifying the relationships
within the layers and between the layers
CATWOE Changes
• CATWOE elements change between layers
• CATWOE elements change within layers
• CATWOE elements often do not reflect the
formalized project structure.
Project Level System View
The Activity System
Monitoring
Efficiency
Monitoring
Effectiveness
Root Definition
A business goal driven system to
redesign and launch a web application
through multi-team distributed
collaboration, which fits within existing
information technology and legal
constraints and results in organic growth
that meets specific business metrics.
Project Level CATWOE
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C - E-Business Team
A - Internal Creative Team, IT, Business
Owners, Product Owners, Agency
T - Build and launch new website
W - New website will better support business
goals
O - CFO, IT
E - Geographic displacement, restrictions to
onsite collaboration, competing business
goals
Feature Level System View
Monitoring
Efficiency
The System
Agency
Action
Monitoring
Effectiveness
Lessons We’ve Learned
• Systems Thinking helps provide a valuable
perspective to help frame IA work
• The inquiry based nature of Systems Thinking
helps keep design based initiatives on top of
perceived changes to the system
• Used on its own, Systems Thinking is not
executional enough to effect system change
• The core tools of Systems Thinking provide
value to IAs even with limited use
Leveraging CATWOE
• Using CATWOE to frame personas
• users as actors, business as customers
• Model different perspectives of a
system
• How do different groups perceive W?
• How do they perceive T?
• Effect short-hand way of starting the
conceptual modelling process
In conclusion…
• Systems
• Experiences happen within systems
• Systems thinking and conceptual
models