The POWER of Systems Thinking

When someone says Systems, what usually comes to our minds are computer systems or software. As we are working in the IT sector there is nothing alarming about this. But when it comes to Systems Thinking. This is a completely different area. Systems here depict not systems in IT but a systematic approach to thinking on a larger scale. About structuring information within a human into a more systemized, organized, and optimized process of thinking with the larger context intact. In such systems thinking is there for coming up with solutions, which are not mere solutions. But the most suitable one.

Problem-solving and providing solutions that will address the larger context is also a major area for Business Analysts to improve upon. Usually most of the time the mindset of a BA is only bounded to the scope of the requirement or what's written in the RFP. Stepping from the more conventional business analysis approach to live in larger view is what should be done for better business analysis. Not to think within the system you are developing but look at it from above, viewing the complete picture, all the connectivity, and all the perspectives. Because in day-to-day projects, if underlying complexity goes unidentified they can come back in changes to the system and CRs. Which we all try to avoid. So how can a Business Analyst use systems thinking? Today we discuss this.

Systems thinking is a skill that should mastered with your thought. It is a way of thinking.

I will also go a step further in this article and do a systems thinking activity with myself and show you what it is and how to use it. So I will be taking a problem we all face. The problem statement will be as follows,

"As a person when I drive on the road, how can I avoid death/injury from road accidents."

The world is more complex than what we see because there are many interconnections and uncertainties in most of the things we do. Just think of having your vehicle on the road to go from A to B. With uncertainties, there are many scenarios present, where you can face an accident on the way. So uncertainty is everywhere.

The solution to the problem is not only software, it can be anything. If we try to solve this problem using Design Thinking the process and solution will be different. So to solve the problem using design thinking a user perspective approach will be taken. Empathy will be done on what he feels and step by step will come up with a solution that where user is comfortable with.

This can be a newly modified interior airbag system. This kind of implementation will make the driver comfortable and from his perspective the product is satisfactory.

But in the real scenario is this the solution???

No. Still, accidents will happen, pedestrians can die and there is the concern with property damage. Then again we come back to level 1. And for me, it somehow doesn't feel right as the best solution for the problem at hand.

Systems Thinking goes into a much wider spectrum. Your user might like it or not like it. But it's something much more sustainable. And it counts in all the possibilities by considering all the perspectives. When we talk about perspectives below image is an example.

In the above diagram, different people will have different perspectives on the problem. The police officer, driver (You), and the other drivers will have different ideas or knowledge about the scenarios. You need to consider them all. Not only that but the current systems in place, the road traffic, road rules, etc.

So let's take our problem and go through the process of thinking from a Systems Thinking perspective.

Identifying the complexity of the problem

So first we need to find the complexity of the problem. We should identify the causes of the problem and underline different root causes of those causes. A great tool you can use for this is the Multiple Cause Diagram. Below is my depiction of the problem,

The main problem is highlighted below in purple. Then from arrows, the causes are shown. Then goes the causes of the cause and onwards. This is a fun and very effective activity if you are doing it with the team by participating all the stakeholders looking through different perspectives and mapping them into the Multiple Cause Diagram.

So what have we identified? For accidents, the main causes are people disregarding the road rules, exceeding speed limits, and errors from other drivers. A cause of exceeding the speed limit had come as accidents happening at night. And then we found out that, it's because of drink and drive. Then we have taken the other causes for drinking and driving, and there are 3 other multiple root causes. One of the cause had roots to the root of another cause, that is police is not around every time and they doesn't know.

Now you have many causes to the problem, which are from multiple areas. These are problems in legal structure, the structure of how police operate and how drivers behave, then what drivers and police officers should know. I think you see the complexity of the problem to which we at first came up with a solution to use modified airbags. Airbags are not even close to solving the problem at hand when looked it through the complete picture.

Creating Mental Models

Now you should come up with a solution, now that we have found the causes of the problem. Systems Thinking practitioners use a technique for this called DSRP.

DSRP stands for Distinction, System, Relation, and Perspective. We will go through each when applying it to our problem.

In systems thinking our Mental model is equal to Information combined with the way of thinking. This is as follows,

Mental Model (M) = Information (I) + Thinking (T)

This is what DSRP assists us with, Below is step by step guide to using DSRP with the problem at hand,

1.Distinction - To separate main areas according to a distinction of the case in hand

First, let's identify the distinct parties of the solution we are providing. Distinctions can be systems, strategies, or even roles as above. In our case we have roles, Driver as current driver (You) or other drivers on the road, and then the Police Officer. So mainly 2 distinctions will be taken for the explaining purpose 1) Police officer and 2) Driver.

2. Systems - Organizing ideas or systemizing them

I have identified the features or requirements for each distinction. These are depicted above for both Police Officers and Drivers. You can say these are the capabilities of what the solution should have.

Now let's see how to interconnect these.

3. Relationship - Identifying the relationships and connecting them (With Action and Behavior)

I first connect the Police Officer and Driver with the interconnecting entity. In this case the IT system. If it is a stakeholder problem between the Business and IT team, then it can be the BA where he is the bridging entity between the 2 parties. So in our case, it is as said the IT System we are building. The features it caters to maintain the relationship are in pink post-its.

A very important activity at this stage is to identify the behaviors and actions happening. So I added behaviors through colored tags. So I have tagged each recognized feature sticky note, to build a behavior relationship among them, regardless of the distinction. They are labeled in Red, Blue, and Orange. Usually, we use the Actions and Behaviors to describe R. So how they would relate is 1)<Red> A GPS tracker to track the speed, rough turns, or the behavior of the driver. Hence creating profiles for bad drivers (Without personal details when showing for other drivers due to privacy) 2)<Blue> Then the location or movement of the driver on a map for Police to know the location and to stop the vehicle and check as a prescriptive action. Police can also know from the map whether the route starts from a Pub. 3) <Orange> When the Driver becomes drowsy system behaves in a way to notify the driver through face recognition using a cam and high pitch alert. Then it will notify nearby drivers and police also through the app alert other drivers and update the profile for the journey for the Police. So Police can again stop and talk to the driver to let him let go of drowsiness and drive back normal. Note that there are 2 profiles, the main profile and the profile to the journey which will add a score to the main profile at the end.

This would be the behavior and actions of the relationship between roles in the 3 colored labels. And I used this technique to depict behaviors and actions off the books. Now we know the distinctions, the features/systems, and the relationships/behaviors, so let's check on the perspectives.

4. Perspectives - Taking multiple perspectives

Now it is us to think about other perspectives or viewpoints to the solution we are creating. Because our exercise is Systems Thinking, we are bringing to the table the complete complex system. Above are some other roles I added to broaden the solution. We earlier took Driver and Other Drivers as one, but we can separate them and find the relationships in between. Then rather than police officer following the details through an app, a Police center can get the Profile data from the system and map it out in their dashboard. So that they can then communicate with Police Officers on the road by acting as a call center to attend to upcoming vehicles. After that another important role we can identify is the Pedestrian. Pedestrians can get a notification alert through an app if a person with a danger-level profile is approaching. So pedestrians can wait till safe to cross the road, letting go of the risk of getting hit by a vehicle when crossing which is widely happening. Where such a system does not even exist.

So likewise many roles, features, and relationships can be created in this case we took. As you can see it gets more complex. As this article is only for explanatory purposes I'm not elaborating more into other areas. So the solution we came for the problem "As a person when I drive on the road how can I avoid death/injury from road accidents." will be as below,

The solution from Systems Thinking

The solution will be a system that gets behavior data from GPS trackers in vehicles, adds them as points to a driver's profile and sends those to a Police Center, where they will identify high-risk profiles and prevent accidents before they even happen. In mean meantime before the Police reach the high-risk profile driver, the other drivers and pedestrians nearby this driver will get alerts through a mobile app.

A complete change of the current system should be done. Police should introduce a Profile for drivers and make GPS trackers regulatory for all vehicles through legislation. Usually, GPS trackers run on battery, therefore this should be implemented into the vehicle's battery to function with the vehicle (Most new vehicles have this). All these new rules should be similar to the current road rules. If a person removes this tracker an alert should go to police. This type of GPS tracker is currently available. So coming to the solution in hand, a problem such as this needs a systematic change. So far to stop accidents what countries have done is they have made road rules regulatory and legal framework had been created. But the solution had been given through this only to the outside system. These are just stimulations from the external environment. But as the solution we came up from this activity, we found that we should go into the unit where the problem lies, the person. It is where a sustainable solution can be given. The current rules are old and they are there to be changed. And should be changed with global updates with technology to suit modern ways of functioning. So we go with the solution for the person. Without the vehicle, there will be no person. So the Person = Vehicle. We can't put a chip in the brain of the person, but we can definitely put a tracker in the vehicle that functions according to his brain.

The behavior of the driver as we described earlier will be added to the profile and if they are on a risky journey, the police will know. Police will be able to identify which vehicles they need to stop at roadblocks. This will be a connectivity with a Police Center which is a monitoring and acting as call center. And other drivers will also get the alert of a risky person approaching. Also system will provide security for pedestrians through notifying incoming risky drivers when they are crossing the roads through mobile app. Additional value will be added through a face recognition model which can be implemented to check face to know whether a driver is sleeping on the drive or drowsy. Can be a cam implemented to the steering wheel. Finally by giving such kind of a complex solution to a complex system, end of the day we are saving lives. So we have in our hands a regulated GPS tracker, Cam implementation, mobile app for drivers & and pedestrians, and a central system for the Police Center. And a complete system change.

Nice Work Right! Now I can pat myself on my back for the good work :)

In concluding the article, this activity should be done with the participation of all the relevant stakeholders when doing this at your office. My solution I came for the road safety issue may look complex but with the help of your stakeholders with whom you participate as the BA, you can make it simpler than this. The scope I took is larger, but as I articulate I didn't consider all the aspects and narrowed my solution for a few roles, due to my intention of only explaining the concept. when you do the activity within a project you will identify the necessities better. So wish you good luck with using Systems Thinking for your upcoming project! Remember that the Power behind anything remains unseen and hidden until you use it.