What Exactly is Systems Thinking?

Systems Thinking makes software development more efficient

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This week I held a few workshops within my organization to explain what Systems Thinking is and some of the common tools used in Systems Thinking, supported by an ongoing classic case study from my organization.

While gathering material for these workshops, two common questions often came up.

1. Will you guide us through the design of an e-commerce system, an instant messaging system, or any system in this workshop?
2. We don’t usually have the opportunity to redesign a system, so do we still need to learn systems thinking?

These questions are closely related. Essentially, they both ask whether Systems Thinking is the same as software architecture design.

The answer is definitely no.

Systems Thinking is a methodology that goes beyond software architecture design and can be applied to any situation and any problem.

So, what exactly is Systems Thinking? How does this relate to our daily routine?

What is System?

Before explaining the importance of Systems Thinking, let’s talk about what a system is.

Simply put, a system is a group of entities that are “interrelated” yet “independent,” working together toward a “common goal.”

The most important part of this sentence is the common goal.

A Chinese proverb describes “a plate of loose sand”, meaning even though everyone in the group is sand and on the same plate, you wouldn’t call it a system because there’s no goal.

Is a baseball team a system? Absolutely. Each member has specific roles, like infielders, outfielders, or pitchers, but they share the common goal of winning.

Now you know a system is not a software architecture.

What Are the Benefits of Learning Systems Thinking?

Let’s go back to the second question at the beginning of this article.