Systemic Thinking

JOHN BOARDMAN is Principal of John Boardman Associates, a consultancy and training provider specializing in applied systemic thinking. He was formerly Distinguished Service Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he is now Adjunct Professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises.BRIAN SAUSER is an Associate Professor of Complex Logistics Systems at the University of North Texas. He previously managed an applied research and development laboratory in life sciences and engineering at the NASA Johnson Space Center and was the Program Director of the New Jersey NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training before joining Stevens Institute of Technology. He was also a Project Specialist with ASRC Aerospace.

• LIST OF SYSTEMIGRAMS ix LIST OF FIGURES xiiiLIST OF TABLES xvACKNOWLEDGMENTS xviiJOURNEY I SYSTEMIC FAILURE 11 WHERE WE START FROM 32 SYSTEMIC INTRODUCTION 63 RAINING ON MY CASCADE 114 IT’S THE WHOLE, STUPID! 165 THE ANSWER IS . . . PIONEER ACORN PANCAKES? 23JOURNEY II SYSTEMIC IDEAS: THE CONCEPTAGON 296 FRAMEWORKS 317 THE CONCEPTAGON 358 BOUNDARIES, INTERIORS, AND EXTERIORS 389 PARTS, RELATIONSHIPS, AND WHOLES 4610 INPUTS, OUTPUTS, AND TRANSFORMATIONS 5711 CONTROL, COMMAND, AND COMMUNICATION 6212 STRUCTURE, PROCESS, AND FUNCTION 7613 VARIETY, PARSIMONY, AND HARMONY 8614 OPENNESS, HIERARCHY, AND EMERGENCE 93JOURNEY III SYSTEMIC MAPS: SYSTEMIGRAMS 9915 WHAT . . . ? 10116 WHY . . . ? 12017 WHEN . . . ? 14018 HOW . . . ? 15819 WHO . . . ? 18320 WHERE . . . ? 20421 TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED 233REFERENCES 236INDEX 238