Summary
While systems thinking is all hype, a superficial application may jeopardize the value of service design practice. This talk will highlight the hidden dangers of applying systems thinking, with examples of struggles from over a decade of practice experience. To support the ongoing evolution of service design, this talk will share strategies for adopting a systemic approach that amplifies, rather than erodes, the transformative potential of the practice.
Key Insights
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Mega maps or giga maps flatten complex systems into overwhelming 'god’s eye views' that increase cognitive load and paralyze action.
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Embodiment and emotions offer crucial, underutilized capacities to understand and engage with systemic complexity.
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Small-scale, localized interventions can reflect and influence larger systemic patterns more effectively than only pursuing macro-level change.
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The common focus on a singular 'next big system' perpetuates a reductive, linear future, eroding plurality and adaptability.
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Supporting multiplicity and ongoing negotiation through the concept of the Uncommons preserves diverse logics of care and worldviews.
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Project-based models limit systemic change by imposing artificial closures and overlooking ripple effects requiring ongoing attention.
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Design research programs with drifting frames foster emergent outcomes via iterative, context-sensitive experimentation.
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Critical reflexivity on our own positionality and internalized systemic biases is essential to avoid reproducing power imbalances unintentionally.
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Service design risks perpetuating its own professional dominance instead of stewarding many diverse ways people shape systems daily.
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Systems are shaped through mundane, everyday interactions and dialogues, not only through formal interventions.
Notable Quotes
"These mega maps create a god’s like view that no one is actually standing in, erasing the embodied experience of systems."
"Blushing is an inherently systemic reaction helping us understand what’s acceptable in a situation or not."
"How we are at the small scale reflects the systemic patterns at the large scale — Adrian Marie Brown."
"The three horizons model risks reducing complex futures into a linear, replace-the-old narrative, eroding plurality."
"We need to move beyond project management models into collaborative inquiries that hold everyday systemic exploration."
"We often forget the systems within ourselves that limit our perspective, even with the best intentions."
"Design labs risk reinforcing the dominance of professional design, overshadowing diverse ways people shape systems."
"Systems change happens through the mundane—what bus I take, how I negotiate pronouns at home, these small acts matter."
"I invite designers to be method makers rather than method users, critically examining how tools embed systemic logics."
"Colonialism is embedded in all our systems, including embodied methodologies; reflexivity is crucial to avoid reproducing it."
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