Summary
If you look across all disciplines, the one person whose achievements got to the heart of a behavior in nature was the 20th century mathematician Emmy Noether. While geniuses in physics received accolades for figuring out conservation laws in physics, she went an extra step, and this was a step most people didn't even know was there. She figured out where conservation laws came from. In this presentation, we are going to look at where Emmy would fit in high tech today. Today, our world is filled with a plethora of templates, one day courses, agile and lean approaches, blogs on how to get "quick wins" and many other forms of content directly or indirectly trying to satisfy our appetite for speed in high tech. This is reflected in a desire to get to key takeaways or insights as quickly as possible. Many times, these "lean" approaches can be incredibly useful, but not always. Sometimes in the rush to answer or iterate, something fundamental is missed. Insights that could have been discovered with just a little more up front thought and formalism of the problem space. Asking one more "why" question. And asking it like the kick*ss 20th century mathematician Emmy Noether.
Key Insights
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Emmy Noether solved a key problem in Einstein's theory by stepping back and examining the broader system rather than focusing on local inconsistencies.
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Noether’s breakthrough linked conservation laws with symmetries in nature, known today as Noether's Theorem.
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Stepping back to view a broader system leads to deeper insights often missed when focusing narrowly.
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Effective problem solving often requires bridging knowledge across different disciplines, as Noether bridged algebra and physics.
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In UX, rushing for quick insights often overlooks understanding the entire system and its models.
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Ecosystem mapping visualizes the relationships among people, tools, and processes, making invisible structures visible.
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Ecosystem maps differ from journey maps and service blueprints by focusing on the connections within the whole system, not just flows.
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Co-creating ecosystem maps with clients encourages alignment and reveals overlooked roles or elements, such as mentors in youth entrepreneurship support.
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Models are always simplified representations of reality and benefit from exposure, challenge, and iteration to reduce bias and improve accuracy.
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UX research, data science, and other disciplines are all modeling real-world systems, suggesting a need for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Notable Quotes
"Noether’s breakthrough came because she was able to step back from the problem at hand and look at the broader system."
"Energy might not be conserved locally in a smaller patch of space but everything works out when the space is sufficiently large."
"What system are we working within? What system are we trying to understand and impact and why?"
"All we know is only a model, and it’s important to get our models out there where they can be viewed and challenged."
"Visualizing the ecosystem helps get alignment among stakeholders and provides insights into weaknesses and strengths."
"Ecosystem mapping is about the relationships within a system, while journey maps are about flows within parts of that system."
"We are all just modeling; we just don’t always talk about it as such."
"By co-creating the ecosystem map, we had conversations that revealed new key participants necessary to support youth entrepreneurs."
"In a world hungry for speed and high tech, remember to pause and ask how Noether would step back and mull about the problem."
"What’s the bridge between different ways of modeling from different disciplines, perspectives, and cultures?"
Or choose a question:
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