1. Applied Sustainability
Class 7: Systems Intervention
P. Brian Fisher
Spring 2013

2. Chapter 1: The basics
Thinking in systems

3. Systems & Networks
System: A group of interdependent but interrelated elements that form a unified whole.
Network: An interconnected system of things or people.
“networks” refers to groups, individuals, or organizations with shared relationships, "system" refers to the complex external environments in which sector leaders are trying to intervene.

4. Networks
only in the last few years has it become much clearer how the network structure and organization is critical to the success of a systems strategy.
Can be people or organizations (or things)
Emphasizes decentralization and distribution
Learning Network – need to share/distribute/participate info
Works to empower and grow capacity for all (not just one)

5. System Defined
System: an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something (produce their own behavior over time).
Systems Thinking: ability to see holistically the many different types of relationships between the many elements in a complex system.
distinguished from traditional scientific, rationalist and reductionist thinking in which problems are broken down into their separate component parts. (atomism).
interdisciplinary fields that have developed over 60 years, with many different influences ranging from engineering, math, biology, computer science, sociology, and psychology.

6. 3 Aspects to Systems 3 Aspects to Definition:
1. Elements (people, molecules, cells, etc)
2. Interconnections
3. Function or Purpose
** System is more than the sum of its parts -- holism

7. Aspects of a System
Elements: and subelements are easiest to spot (e.g. university  profs, admins, computers, students, classrooms, etc)
Interconnections: Look beyond the players to the rules  Many of the interconnections in systems operate through the flow of information. Information holds systems together and plays a great role in determining how they operate (e.g. admission stnds, requirements for degrees, $$)
Purpose (human): The best way to deduce the system’s purpose is to watch for a while to see how the system behaves  look at behavior not stated purpose or rhetoric (e.g. If a government proclaims its interest in protecting the environment but allocates little money or effort toward that goal, environmental protection is not, in fact, the government’s purpose)
Function (non-human): An important function of almost every system is to ensure its own perpetuation.

8. Systems Thinking 101 Cont’d
Used in many fields to conceptualize complex systems and solve problems or grand challenges
It is based on the idea that the behavior of all systems follows certain common principles and interdependencies that go far beyond our normal ways of thinking about cause and effect. It is a way of paying attention to the world to see how any given action interrelates with other areas of activity.
This allows for rigorous solutions to be explored where unexpected dynamics emerge, suggesting innovative solutions grounded in a deeper understanding of reality.

9. Change  System
Systems can be nested within systems. Therefore, there can be purposes within purposes  Keeping sub-purposes and overall system purposes in harmony is an essential function of successful systems.
A system generally goes on being itself, changing only slowly if at all, even with complete substitutions of its elements—as long as its interconnections and purposes remain intact.
If the interconnections change, the system may be greatly altered. It may even become unrecognizable, even though the same players are on the team.
The least obvious part of the system, its function or purpose, is often the most crucial determinant of the system’s behavior  A change in purpose changes a system profoundly, even if every element and interconnection remains the same.
Think about Waste-recycling problems
3 Levels to approach problem
Systems – Think recycling first (because it meets our goal of optimizing diversion rates)  3 Options: 1. Single Stream; 2. Dual Stream (with cardboard); 3. Muitiple Stream – Self-Organizing (b/c County moving to single stream).
Structure – how we set things up in the system
Behavior – change people’s behavior in different areas (students, staff, employees, custodians, etc).
System Goal: LT – Zero Landfill Waste; ST – Optimize (not maximize) Diversion Rate

10. System Stock and Flows
Stock: foundational element that provides quantity of material inputs  A stock, then, is the present memory of the history of changing flows within the system.
Flow: the process of throughput through the system
Dynamic Equilibrium: stock remains constant (inflow equals outflow) although perpetual flow
** A stock can be increased by decreasing its outflow rate as well as by increasing its inflow rate  Stocks generally change slowly, even when the flows into or out of them change suddenly. Therefore, stocks act as delays or buffers or shock absorbers in systems.
A feedback loop is formed when changes in a stock affect the flows into or out of that same stock  Feedback loops can cause stocks to maintain their level within a range or grow or decline.

11. RE-AMP’s Collective Network – Key Principles to Systems Problem Solving
Understand the System you are trying to change
Involve Diversity of stakeholders
Design Network (not an organization) and invest in collective infrastructure
Cultivate Leadership at many levels
Create multiple ops to connect and communicate
Remain Adaptive and Emergent  committed to long-term vision

12. Chapter 3: why systems work so well
Thinking in systems

13. Functionality of Systems
Highly functional systems: resilience, self-organization, or hierarchy
Resilience: measure of a system’s ability to survive and persist within a variable environment  Ability to bounce back or elasticity  arises from a rich structure of many feedback loops that can work in different ways to restore a system even after a large perturbation.
Self-Organization: capacity for a system to create its own structure  feedback loops that can learn, create, design, and evolve ever more complex restorative structures.
Hierarchy: In the process of creating new structures and increasing complexity, one thing that a self-organizing system often generates is hierarchy  a set of subsystems that aggregate into larger systems
Systems need to be managed not only for productivity or stability, they also need to be managed for resilience.
Like resilience, self-organization is often sacrificed for purposes of short-term productivity and stability.

14. Leverage Points to Change System
So, how do we change the structure of systems to produce more of what we want and less of that which is undesirable?  where in the system can we create a small change that can lead to a large shift in the system?
Leverage Points = Points of Power

15. 12. Numbers—Constants and parameters such as subsidies, taxes, standards Meadows.
11. Buffers—The sizes of stabilizing stocks relative to their flows
10. Stock-and-Flow Structures—Physical systems and their nodes of intersection
9. Delays—The lengths of time relative to the rates of system changes
8. Balancing Feedback Loops—The strength of the feedbacks relative to the impacts they are trying to correct.
7. Reinforcing Feedback Loops—The strength of the gain of driving loops
6. Information Flows—The structure of who does and does not have access to information

16. 5. Rules—Incentives, punishments, constraints
4. Self-Organization—The power to add, change, or evolve system structure
3. Goals—The purpose or function of the system
2. Paradigms—The mind-set out of which the system—its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters—arises
Transcending Paradigms – No paradigm is “true”  keep unattached  “let go into not-knowing, into what Buddhists call enlightenment
**The higher the leverage point, the more the system will resist changing it—that’s why societies often rub out truly enlightened beings.

17. Living in a world of Systems
“Self-organizing, nonlinear, feedback systems are inherently unpredictable. They are not controllable. They are understandable only in the most general way. The goal of foreseeing the future exactly and preparing for it perfectly is unrealizable. The idea of making a complex system do just what you want it to do can be achieved only temporarily, at best. We can never fully understand our world, not in the way our reductionist science has led us to expect. Our science itself, from quantum theory to the mathematics of chaos, leads us into irreducible uncertainty. For any objective other than the most trivial, we can’t optimize; we don’t even know what to optimize. We can’t keep track of everything. We can’t find a proper, sustainable relationship to nature, each other, or the institutions we create, if we try to do it from the role of the omniscient conqueror.”

18. Insights from Systems thinking
1. Systems thinking often leads to more questions than answers
2. We need a different sort of “doing.” The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being. Systems can’t be controlled, but they can be designed and redesigned.
3. Before you disturb a system, watch how it behaves – Get the Beat of the System
4. Expose your Mental Models and Assumptions (for others to examine)  make rigorous systems models
5. Honor, Respect, and Distribute Information  Info is power  Need more complete, timely and accurate information
6. Use Language with Care and Enrich It with Systems Concepts  Avoid language pollution, while expanding our language to handle complexity
7. Pay Attention to What Is Important, Not Just What Is Quantifiable  Set goals around what’s important, not measureable
8. Make Feedback Policies for Feedback Systems  best policies not only contain feedback loops, but meta-feedback loops—loops that alter, correct, and expand loops
9. Go for the Good of the Whole  Don’t maximize parts or subsystems  aim: to enhance total systems properties, such as growth, stability, diversity, resilience, and sustainability

19. Insights (con’t)
10. Listen to the Wisdom of the System  encourage the forces and structures that help the system run itself.
11. Locate Responsibility in the System  looking for the ways the system creates its own behavior
12. Stay Humble— Stay a Learner  Don’t charge forward with unbending directives  need to learn primarily through trial and error  “error-embracing” enhances learning
13. Celebrate Complexity  universe is messy. It is nonlinear, turbulent, and dynamic  Celebrate and embrace this
14. Expand Time Horizons  Phenomena at different time-scales are nested within each other. Actions taken now have some immediate effects and some that radiate out for decades to come
15. Defy the Disciplines  Follow systems, and it will definitely cross traditional disciplines  more than interdisciplinary
16. Expand the Boundary of Caring  The real system is interconnected. No part of the human race is separate either from other human beings or from the global ecosystem
17. Don’t Erode the Goal of Goodness  “drift to low performance” is the process by which modern industrial culture has eroded the goal of morality