3 Things You Need to Know If You Want to Build Systems
Do you know how to build a system?
As I’ve studied business and running organizations, I’ve heard time and time again, that you have to be able to build systems. I would hear that systems were the key to getting consistent results and to stop wasting time and effort.
The problem is that I could never figure out how to do it or what it meant.
I read a few books that got me started and then started building systems in real life. In reality though, I just started to build awareness for them. Once I started to build awareness for them, then I could see the implications on my career.
Understanding how to build systems is a critical skill in running transformational projects.
Why is that? Because transformational projects by definition involve the interaction of parts of the organization working cohesively to achieve an objective.
The more we can understand systems and the behavior of systems, the more we can anticipate the behavior to shape the quality of our projects.
This guide will give you the beginning parts of understanding of systems so that you can start to build awareness for them all around you.
What are systems and what is systems thinking?
Systems are any group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent parts that form a complex and unified who that has a specific purpose. Let’s break that down a bit further. It includes:
Parts - There are components to any system. They can be objects, processes, collections of processes, but think of them as nouns.
Interacting, interrelated or interdependent - The parts must have an impact on each other. An independent part that doesn’t impact other parts isn’t part of the system. A group of parts doesn’t make a system.
Specific purpose - A system has a chief aim. Something that brings all of the parts together to accomplish something.
Systems thinking then is a way of thinking that allows us to see the interactions and interrelatedness of parts that are being pointed towards a specific goal. It’s a matter of perspective at it’s core.
Where do you start?
Systems thinking, like a lot of things, comes with its fair share of jargon and complexity. So here’s where I’d recommend you start if you want to start to become a systems thinker.
Start with building awareness of systems
You have to start with a clear understanding of what a system is, so it’s helpful to start to recognize what they are when you see them. Here’s what I look for:
Purpose - The purpose doesn’t have to be earth shattering, and I’d actually recommend that you build awareness of the systems around relatively mundane things all around you. For example, a toaster is a system. Its purpose is to warm and toast bread. The purpose is the glue that holds the system together.
Parts that are interrelated - If you take away a part from a system and it doesn’t impact its functioning then it isn’t part of the system. If I remove the electrical cord or the timer out of the toaster, the system no longer exists because it cannot fulfill its purpose. If I remove the color from the outside of the toaster than it doesn’t impact its purpose (assuming the purpose is to toast bread).
Feedback loops - Another component of a system that you can build awareness around are feedback loops. Feedback loops are the transmission and return of information. In our toaster example, the feedback is in the form of visual feedback. Did the bread toast or not? Did it burn? What you might not realize in this example is that you are part of the system!
What do systems have to do with running transformational projects?
Projects are systems. They have all of the components that we just spoke about. They have a purpose or an outcome that they are trying to acheive. They have interrelated parts, oftentimes in the form of people. They have feedback loops to assess whether or not the project is achieving it’s outcome.
At least successful projects have all of these components.
M y goal this week was to start to build awareness of systems that are all around you. In coming weeks, we’ll go deeper into how to use systems thinking in the projects that your completing both in terms of running the project as well as thinking about the problems or opportunities that you are trying to capture.