seeing a bigger picture - tobias fors - citerus

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE@TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE tobias.fors@citerus.se

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

time

energy

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Energy, enthusiasm, training and

peptalks

’It kind of petered out’

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

The problem of …

Choose a sticky problem

you are experiencing

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

‣ Other people: involved, affecting and/or affected by the situation

‣ Tools, platforms and other resources that are involved

‣ Visualize relations, interactions, flow of information

‣ Visualize problems and pains

‣ Visualize strengths and joys

‣ Add what’s missing to complete the picture

‣ (It may be the thing you always forget to include when you think about this situation)

Let’s call this ”Org doodling’

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Discuss with your neighbors (3 mins] !

To what degree do the people in your picture agree on what the problem is?

!

What can you say about what’s producing the problem, and what’s

making it stick?

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Unseen structures

Strange behavior

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

I promised to create a testing dashboard, but it’s

gonna have to wait

tid

energi

Visible structures

Understood behavior

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Prio number one now, is to work on the

backlog.

Tight deadline = no slack

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

A conscious way of thinking about the structures affecting us

Systems thinking

Visible structures

Thinking about structures

Understood behavior

Thinking

Systems

Behavior

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

The way we think …

… causes us to create certain structures …

… that has a certain kind of influence on us

1300 1600 1900

Age of machines

Age of systems

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Middle Ages Renaissance

Environment

System

Part

Part

Part

Part

Part

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

SYSTEMS THINKING FOR THE REST OF US @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SESEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

The performance of a system is not the sum of its parts, it is

the product of their interactions.

The essential parts

SYSTEMS THINKING FOR THE REST OF US @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SESEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Improving the parts individually does often not lead to an improvement of

the whole

SYSTEMS THINKING FOR THE REST OF US @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SESEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

We need to focus on the interactions (not just the actions)

of the parts of the system.

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

Discuss with your partner (5 mins] !

Which interactions might hold the key to ”unsticking” your problem?

What new questions or insights about your ”mess” do you have now?

Try to see more of the system

Build your understanding of the system

Tweak the system, not just

the parts

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

It should be easier to do what’s right

Start simple, but involve more people: Draw, doodle, think

together

Why are we getting the results we’re getting?

SEEING A BIGGER PICTURE @TOFO | CITERUS.SE | TOBIASFORS.SE

”It’s not so much about systems, but how to use yourself in the system” – Edie Seashore

Want to learn more? Study: ‣ Gerald M. (Jerry) Weinberg ‣ Russell Ackoff ‣ http://bit.ly/eliminera