Dec articles

Negative System Effects

Systems benefit from the synergic effect of the components working together. By contrast, when components work against each other the result is work that is not the simple sum of their individual effects and may nigh be negative. Another way to think about it is that systems amplify the result …

Architects Define Boundaries

It is the responsibility of a system architect to discover meaningful boundaries that fulfil the expressed use cases. This elevates the place of use cases as more or fewer use cases may significantly alter the system boundaries. I believe the right way to then think about the system architecture is …

Good Teaching Is An Expression of Systems Thinking

A system is an assembly of components with effects outside the scope of any one component. These effects are due to interactions between components. This is why we think of systems as synergistic entities with emergent properties. Anything worth devoting significant time to learn is likely operating under system …

Systems and Apparent Complexity

Consider a girl at a piano. The way her fingers move is hard to associate with the beauty of what she produces (if she’s any good; let’s assume she is). Of course, she may convey something of the rhythm of the music by how she moves parts of her body. …

I Was Wrong: Exponential Gains Require Systems Thinking

I previously wrote about how exponential gains require exponential effort. I'm now coming to realise that this is not strictly true.To be precise, linear thinking results in linear output--there is no doubt about that. However, I'm developing a growing realisation that systems thinking i.e. capturing the whole …

Why Good Design Is Incredibly Difficult to Achieve

The act of design is contranatural: the second law of thermodynamics tells us why. Entropy serves to erode design and there is nothing in nature other than the persistence of life which is preservative or the act of will which is creative that oppose entropy. While we extol the …