Learning Systems Thinking

Welcome to the systems age, where software professionals are no longer building software; we’re building systems of software. Change is continuously deployed across software ecosystems coordinated by responsive infrastructure.

In this world of increasing relational complexity, we need to think differently. Many of our challenges are systemic. This book shows you how systems thinking can guide you through the complexity of modern systems. Rather than relying on traditional reductionistic approaches, author Diana Montalion shows you how to expand your skill set so we can think, communicate, and act as healthy systems.

Systems thinking is a practice that improves your effectiveness and enables you to lead impactful change. Through a series of practices and real-world scenarios, you’ll learn to shift your perspective in order to design, develop, and deliver better outcomes.

You’ll learn:

• How linear thinking limits your ability to solve system challenges
• Common obstacles to systems thinking and how to move past them
• New skills and practices that will transform how you think, learn, and lead
• Methods for thinking well with others and creating sound recommendations
• How to measure success in the midst of complexity and uncertainty

Table of Contents

Part I. A System of Thinking

Chapter 1. What Is Systems Thinking?

Chapter 2. Crafting Conceptual Integrity

Chapter 3. Shifting Your Perspective

Part II. You Are a System of Thinking

Chapter 4. Self-Awareness as a Foundational Skill

Chapter 5. Replace Reacting with Responding

Chapter 6. A System of Learning

Part Ill. We Are a System of Thinking

Chapter 7. Collective Systemic Reasoning

Chapter 8. Designing Feedback Loops

Chapter 9. Pattern Thinking

Part IV. Designing a System of Thinking

Chapter 10. Modeling, Together

Chapter 11. Systems Leadership

Chapter 12. Redefining Success

About the Author

Diana Montalion has 20 years of experience delivering transformative initiatives, independently or as part of a professional services group, to clients including Stanford, The Gates Foundation and Teach For All. She has served as principal architect for The Economist and The Wikimedia Foundation. She founded Mentrix Group, a consultancy providing technology architecture, systems leadership and workshops on nonlinear approaches. Writing, teaching and thinking about thinking are her favorite hobbies.