Summary
Many designers are recognizing the limitations of the design thinking process and acknowledge the need for systems thinking. In this talk, the audience will learn key concepts of systems thinking, as well as prompts that help them get started on their systems thinking journey. Sheryl will share frameworks that designers can take action with in order to incorporate systems thinking in their day-to-day decision-making.
Key Insights
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Traditional design thinking often fails to consider systemic harm and wider societal impacts beyond individual users.
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Optimizing for ease of use or delight, like infinite scroll, can lead to negative outcomes for humanity.
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User-centered design can unintentionally reinforce existing power structures and business incentives that do not benefit users.
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Systems thinking requires viewing problems as interconnected, adaptive, and dynamic rather than purely mechanical or component-based.
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Cloud problems represent complex, changing systems that cannot be solved by breaking them into isolated parts like clock problems.
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Making the invisible visible, such as through the iceberg model or STEEP framework, helps reveal root causes beyond visible symptoms.
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Today's problems often stem from solutions applied in the past, sometimes creating harmful feedback loops like the Cobra effect.
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Diverse and empowered stakeholder participation, especially including lived experts, enriches understanding and improves design outcomes.
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Multi-finality means problems usually have multiple valid interventions, including non-design solutions like policy or business model changes.
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Teaching systems thinking benefits from engaging students in mapping exercises and exploring unintended consequences through tools like the futures wheel.
Notable Quotes
"Optimizing something for ease of use does not mean best for the user or humanity."
"The user-centered design process does not acknowledge nor address potential harm."
"Designers are in the system not outside of it."
"People who understand the problem best are set up to do the best work."
"Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions."
"There will not be a singular solution or intervention; rather, there'll be multiple types of interventions."
"The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed."
"Freedom dreaming is dreaming about a system that is free from today’s oppression."
"Cloud problems can’t be taken apart; they’re nebulous, adaptive, and dynamic."
"Multi-finality means there is no one way that a problem can be solved."
Or choose a question:
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