Systems Thinking is a two-day course that teaches attendees to apply this discipline to the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of complex systems. Students learn to study systems through requirements engineering, reliability, logistics, cross-team coordination, testing, and maintainability. Day one traces the field’s origins and contrasts it with conventional, linear problem solving. The course then introduces structure models, including hierarchical decomposition and Beer’s classification. It also covers Katz and Kahn’s open system model of input, throughput, output, feedback, and environment. From there, attendees compare different ways of thinking about a problem: logical, causal, reductionist, and holistic. The day closes with a look at systems factors, covering space and time encapsulation and active versus passive elements. It also covers the difference between persistent and transient systems.
Day two shifts to managing change, using cut points, buffers, stocks and flows, and delays. These tools model how interventions ripple through an organization or a system. Two modules on archetypes follow, walking through recurring failure patterns such as fixes that backfire, shifting the burden, and limits to success. Other patterns covered include the tragedy of the commons and escalation. Each pattern is illustrated with real scenarios attendees can map onto their own teams. The course also covers work-process optimization and risk management. The final module on best practices looks at mental models, information distribution, and feedback management. Attendees work through a structured discovery process that helps teams find real problems, spot the highest-impact failures, and turn these insights into whole-system solutions.
Who Should Attend
Technology Management, Developers, Architects, Engineering Managers and DevOps personnel
What Attendees Will Learn
Upon completing Systems Thinking, attendees will be able to:
- Explain systems thinking origins and how it differs from conventional thinking
- Apply systems structure models, including hierarchical and open system models
- Apply diverse thinking modes, including logical, causal, and holistic perspectives
- Analyze systems factors, including encapsulation and persistent/transient systems
- Manage change using system cut points, buffers, and stocks and flows
- Identify and address systems archetypes, including shifting the burden and escalation
- Apply systems thinking best practices, including mental models and feedback management
- Use the systems thinking discovery process to identify high-impact problems
Prerequisites
A general technology background is helpful; no formal prerequisites are required.