The way I use it is to assume certain things, and then consider the consequences of them. I wish I could have discussed this more in the article, but the specific example got long enough that a theory tie-in would have been a lot for a blog post.
But anyway, things like feedback loops (both positive and negative), oscillations, stocks, flows, control points, system boundaries, etc. etc. -- these are all tools for giving both names and operational patterns to different things you'll see happen in a system.
And once you have that, you end up with a better mental model from first principles that lets you anticipate and work with certain aspects of systems before you learn its behavior through trial and error / best practices.
I need to dig deeper myself, but I found "Thinking in Systems" from Donella H. Meadows a good primer on the basics . So far the best benefit systems thinking has given me is a changed perspective on things, but I think it'll help for doing more detailed analysis with a bit more study and practice, too.
But anyway, things like feedback loops (both positive and negative), oscillations, stocks, flows, control points, system boundaries, etc. etc. -- these are all tools for giving both names and operational patterns to different things you'll see happen in a system.
And once you have that, you end up with a better mental model from first principles that lets you anticipate and work with certain aspects of systems before you learn its behavior through trial and error / best practices.
I need to dig deeper myself, but I found "Thinking in Systems" from Donella H. Meadows a good primer on the basics . So far the best benefit systems thinking has given me is a changed perspective on things, but I think it'll help for doing more detailed analysis with a bit more study and practice, too.