Living in the Clouds: Adopting a Systems Thinking Mindset
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’s narrow user-centered focus often overlooks systemic harms and unintended negative consequences.
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Infinite scroll, designed for ease of use, illustrates how optimizing for user delight can harm humanity, as noted by Aza Raskin.
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Systems thinking requires understanding interconnectedness, causality, and wholeness to address complex, adaptive 'cloud' problems rather than just 'clock' problems.
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The XO laptop failed in African contexts because designers ignored socio-economic systems, such as family ownership norms.
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Disparities in urban tree distribution reveal systemic racism embedded in policies, surveillance practices, and environmental impact.
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The 'Cobra effect' rat bounty story exemplifies how incentives can backfire in complex systems, creating circular feedback loops.
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Involving lived experts and diverse stakeholders in design leads to richer domain knowledge and more equitable solutions.
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Systems thinking expands design interventions beyond products to policy, business models, and long-term strategy, embracing multi-finality.
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Effective systems communication tools include simplified iceberg diagrams and causal loop diagrams focused on root causes rather than overwhelming complexity.
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Designers must acknowledge their positionality and biases since they are embedded within the systems they aim to change.
Notable Quotes
"Optimizing something for ease of use does not mean best for the user or humanity."
"People who understand the problem best are set up to do the best work."
"Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions."
"Designers are in the system, not outside of it."
"Freedom dreaming is dreaming about a system that is free from today's oppression."
"The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed."
"One of the challenges for designers is to orient around forces rather than only people."
"There is no singular solution in systems thinking; there are multiple types of interventions."
"If you’re working at scale, many problems that seem like 'clock' problems actually have 'cloud' elements."
"Involving stakeholders with lived experience empowers design and enriches domain knowledge."
Or choose a question:
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