Making Sense of Systems—and Using Systems to Make Sense of the Enterprise
Summary
In this talk, Boon will share learnings from understanding systems thinking at a deeper level, and how this has shaped and improved his approaches to large, messy problem spaces as an senior individual contributor working on product / service design and strategy in the enterprise. Boon's perspectives on systems draw from a mix of systems perspectives, which include Checkland's soft-systems methodology, Capra's systems view of life, and Ricigliano's Systems Practice approaches. He'll also share some of the practicalities and challenges of learning and applying systems thinking (which hasn't been simple), while having to deliver on UX outcomes at the same time.
Key Insights
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Enterprise UX involves designing not just products but collective organizational change among stakeholders.
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Shifting from user-centered to organizational-value-centered design reveals broader systemic interdependencies.
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Polarity mapping helps balance competing but interdependent priorities instead of choosing one over the other.
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The Backcasting approach, including dystopian futures, enriches understanding of possible long-term changes.
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Most systems thinking tools are used selectively to avoid alienating stakeholders unfamiliar with complex diagrams.
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Renaming services with verbs improves user clarity and situational awareness across complex workflows.
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Creating design qualities in the voice of users acts as a self-perpetuating system feedback loop.
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Sharing design artifacts openly across teams promotes cross-departmental collaboration and mutual benefit.
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A daily Slack feed of user research comments fosters ongoing organizational awareness and system muscle.
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Cultivating trustful relationships is foundational since complex systems work ultimately depends on people.
Notable Quotes
"Enterprise UX is really hard because, in addition to designing for products, we also design for our own change and the change our colleagues navigate."
"Systems thinking for enterprise UX is like doing research and design on ourselves, our colleagues, and our work."
"Polarity mapping forces you to balance two things that seem like opposites but are actually interdependent."
"Good services are verbs, bad services are nouns – using verbs helps users know where they are in the workflow."
"Change doesn’t happen because we made a product; change happens through how people respond and behave."
"We need to work on relationships with stakeholders because that’s how things get done in complex systems."
"Using systems tools is only about 5% of my day-to-day work; I handpick them to meaningfully engage stakeholders."
"Behavior begets behavior – by modeling sharing and documentation, others start adopting those habits."
"Designing for equity means bringing voices of those not in the room back into the system we design."
"You have to put yourself in stakeholders’ shoes and understand their domain to have meaningful conversations."
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