What are the benefits of using systems thinking to align your organization's business and human domains?

An Organization is a Human System, as is a team, function etc. Capabilities reflect "The ability to mobilize resources to achieve an aim". So based on Unitary Developmental Theory applied to organizations we can ID those Capabilities important for the Sys. (Organization) or any Sub-System (Team, Function etc) that contribute to achieving the specified aims, ID their functioning level & development path on a 15 stage normative scale underpinned by human system development rules or use a 7-Level Capability Maturity Framework such as OrgCMF that provides the bodies of knowledge for each Capability and System in the form of Reference Models that allow for Assessment (Measurement) and calibrated action guidance to assure sustainable traction

We should be thinking beyond static representations, such as a paper-based causal loop diagram or stock and flow diagram. Instead, we should be building dynamic simulation models using simulation software. Systems problems are very often dynamic problems, so that you can only see the true nature of the problem as the system evolves over time. Simulations can help you understand problems in ways that other tools cannot possibly help.

Recently, I've been using dynamic modelling tools to build simulations of software development processes, so I can better understand long-running software development problems, such as the buildup of technical debt, project underestimation, and project overruns.

Systems thinking is impossible without understanding your product or service in a broad and holistic business, social and technological context. If you can build up a systems thinking picture, you can begin to understand aspects of the contextual, dynamic (and at times counterintuitive) things that happen, such as why some products succeed and others fail. The benefits of systems thinking can be profound, even to the point of making or breaking your business.

Start by building up capability in systems thinking. There are many good textbooks, such as 'Thinking in Systems' by Donella Meadows. For a more advanced text, try 'Business Dynamics' by John Sterman. Next, acquire skills in a system modelling tool, such as Vensim, Stella, iThink, or Powersim.

Systems thinking perceives the world as made up of interdependent systems that are made up of parts that are also interdependent, each of which may also be a system. The business domain (a system) is made up of the work (the parts) that is required to produce the goods or services the business supplies. Therefore, all the work that makes up the business is interdependent with each other. The human domain (a system) is made up of the people (the parts) that do the work of the business domain. So the people are interdependent with each other and also with the work. "Internal customers", interdepartmental SLA's, and similar are barriers to building a culture founded on interdependence which is the true alignment of business and human domains.

Systems are comprised of sub-systems which have components that in turn have attributes. It is the relationships between the attributes of the components that proscribe the performance of the system in a specified environment. Creating a simulation or dynamic model requires the identification of those attributes and their quantification using tools such as Activity Based Costing. The more attributes you try to simulate in a single model the more complex it becomes, noting that a system with many simplex relationships is not necessarily the same as a complex system.