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 Applied  Systems Thinking

Checklists

translating systems thinking

 principles into practice

Assess the situation

§

Version 26 Nov 2013

Create a model

Assess risk

Make decisions

Iterate and adjust

Simplify with separation

Increase performance withintegration

Maintain relevance with

adaptability

Establish control with regulation

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Applied Systems Thinking Checklists outlines the concepts and actions used to build and maintain a systems perspective during

project work. Many of the checklist items presented overlap with and draw out similarities between project management, systems

engineering, lean, agile, and industrial engineering principles.

As shown in the graphic on the next page, project work requires frequent back and forth iteration between learning, acting, and

designing as feedback flows in, changes occur, and products are created. These checklists provide a flexible, short, and easily

accessible guide for tuning each project iteration to converge on project goals.

More iteration is helpful in conditions of high uncertainty, but the amount of iteration should be constrained by the risk profile of

the project. In turn, the risk profile is established by assessment and modeling. By changing connectedness (separation vs.

integration) and control methods (adaptive vs. regulation), the amount of iteration a project (or product) is capable of can be

adjusted to fit situation specific goals.

Don’t use these checklists as absolute or step-by-step procedure. Use them to identify productive actions,

focus attention, and encourage thoroughness. Use them as a source of ideas for systemic intervention in

ongoing projects. Over time, they will provide a subtle advantage when dealing with complex situations

and projects.

- Using checklists to translate systems thinking principles into practice -

Implementation Guide

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Decision Making (4)

Assessment (1), Modeling (2), and Risk (3)

Separate (6), Integrate (7), Adapt (8), Regulate (9)

Situation space

Example iterative path through systems thinking elements and the supporting checklists

Time 

Project Iteration

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Pro

duct 1.0 Product 3.0Product 2.0

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Situation Assessment

Set Conditions for Insight

Prioritize transparency over objectivity

Prioritize understanding over blame or fault

Resist narrative until late in assessment

Hold strong opinions weakly

Articulate mental frameworks before debating the

resulting positions

Expect to expend time, resources, and effort

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor Version 26 Nov 2013

1 Encourage Diversity of Perspectives

Use a models to encourage reflection and debate

Engage a broad range of stakeholders

Engage individuals with local knowledge and experience

Engage outsiders with no stake in the system

Create a safe environment with standards for behaviour

Draw out opinions of disadvantaged or less assertive

stakeholders

Resist the use of power to short-cut deliberation

Make deliberate, yet tentative boundary decisions

3

Define Purposes and Values

Define purposes and values before defining problems

Use purposes and values to guide problem definition

Use purposes and values to guide boundary definition

State problems in solution independent terms

5

Gather Information

Observe system behaviour in person

Study existing documentation, theory, and data

Evaluate similar and competing systems

Recruit and confer with experts

Explicitly define assumptions

Identify what is missing, uncertain, or not represented

Evaluate the important vs. the quantitative and accuracy

vs. precision

2

Assess on Multiple Levels

Cycle between deep dives and big picture analysis

Look for events, results, and transactions

Look for patterns of behavior over time

Look for organizing rules, priorities, and structures

4

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Model Creation

Create a Model

Model the situation as a system changing over time

Use modeling to establish context, increase transparency,

and guide iteration

Do more modeling when experiment is impractical or

environmentally damaging

Do less modeling when iterative/spiral development is

possible

Maintain and improve models as understanding grows

Limit precision of outputs to the precision of inputs

Don’t do more modeling than the available data warrants 

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

1

Set Model Expectations

Gain acceptance for models before offering results

Explicitly account for uncertainty

Prioritize developing insight over making predictions

Prioritize consequences over probabilities

Use modeling to support, but not replace decision making

Recognize models and people are optimistic

2

Before Investing in Model Complexity. . .

Improve accuracy of input data and assumptions

Check model results against empirical data

Create and compare multiple independent models

3

Use Models to Create Insights

Model long time periods to understand system cycles

Use visual tools such as flow charts, pictures, and maps to

build group understanding and encourage debate

Identify dominant system dynamics elements: buffers,

stocks, flows, parameters, rules, rates, and goals

Model changes to system design > Ref. CHKLST 6,7,8,9

Assess model sensitivity over a wide range of inputs,

scenarios, and high consequence events

Challenge conventional wisdom

Use models to provoke thought outside familiar timescales

and frameworks

Explore contradictory and incomplete information

Search for unintended/unanticipated consequences

4

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Risk Assessment

Define Risk

Define the consequences of system success and failure

Use risk assessment to guide and constrain decision-

making and iteration > Ref. CHKLST 4,5

Use tight constraints for activities with environmentally

damaging consequences

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

1

Mitigate Risk

Adjust system design > Ref. CHKLST 6,7,8,9

Require system proponents to identify and respond to risk

Leave open a deliberate margin for error

Create a clear, predetermined relief valve

Prioritize development over growth

Perform large-scale innovation early in development

Build and maintain robust checks and balances Contain volatility close to the source

Encourage creative destruction

Make plans based on well-defined purposes rather than

risk calculations

Aggregate to protect against the unknown, specialize to

protect against the known

2

Identify Risk/Opportunity Areas

Increases in size, speed, and concentration

Unbounded limits on system behavior and areas ofexponential growth

Bottlenecks and constraints

High levels of isolation, specialization, regulation, or chaos

> Ref. CHKLST 6,7,8,9

Poorly understood or uncontrolled interrelationships

Dependence on accurate forecasting

Reliance on trust or idealism

Interventions that hide rather than address underlying risk

Internal and external system interfaces

Rule beating behavior

Heavy optimization of any part of the system

Lack of open information flows

High power concentration with low accountability

Indeterminate outcomes or failures

A drift towards lower performance

Deficits and leverage

Exhaustion of shared resources

3

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Decision Making

Identify Decision Making Constraints

Constrain decision making and iteration tempo based on

risk assessment > Ref. CHKLST 3 Use long-term purposes and values to guide decision

making

Prefer Decisions That. . .

Utilize the power of system design > Ref. CHKLST 6,7,8,9

Enable action

Make sense through several reference frames and

perspectives

Minimize exceptions, special cases, and fine print

Are robust within a wide range of future possibilities

Require fewer follow on decisions

Address problems at an operational level

Build in and maintain options

Identify accountability for future decisions

Stack the Odds for Success

Foster, monitor, and respond to decision feedback

Remain open to exploration, new information, and

different perspectives

See self as part of the situation, the situation as part of the

system, and the system as part of the surrounding

environment

See the system as a cause of in-system behavior

Embrace uncertainty and ambiguity

Prevent uncontrolled expansion of work and beware of

empty compromises

Avoid accumulating excuses

Ask why at least 5 times

Avoid Decision Pitfalls

Do not exclusively rely on analytical decision tools

Do not decide issues that do not need decisions

Do not decide issues that are better decided elsewhere

Do not make decisions that justify past decisions

Use authoritative decision making selectively

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

1

4

3

2

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Iteration

Leverage Iteration

Make early and meaningful contact with the problem

Use rapid iteration to address uncertainty

Use iteration to successively deepen understanding

Prefer tests over expert opinions

Use the desired end state as a guide

Periodically re-evaluate assumptions

Adjust system design for iteration > Ref. CHKLST 6,7,8,9

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

1

Increase Iteration Speed

Fail quickly, cheaply, and in diverse ways

Combine local overconfidence with global stability

Prioritize rewards for success over penalties for failure

Prioritize iteration speed over defect rate

Iterate using system models > CHKLST 2

Ramp-up selection pressure

Define and measure short-term criteria correlated with

long-term goals

2

Monitor and Test

Preform reflection after each iteration

Make imperfections visible

Test each iteration in an end use environment

Use both independent and participatory monitoring

Identify and monitor thresholds that trigger contingency

plans

Identify errors of omission and commission

4

Increase Iteration Quantity

Complete more iterations

Use scientific method when possible

Prioritize rough representation of the overall system over

detailed representation of a single element

Evaluate iteration methods frequently

Iterate in a series of stable but progressively improved

states

Progressively freeze features

Progressively eliminate defects

Cherish and learn from exceptions and failures

Eliminate safety margins to surface issues and constraints

Reduce clutter and simplify

3

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Separate

Simplify

Create manageable problems by separating system

elements

Manage elements using abstraction and modularity

Manage abstraction and modularity with interfaces

Maintain a high level system model that guides individual

module development > Ref. CHKLST 2

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

1

Partition System into Modules

Isolate variability, risk, and uncertainty

Group related elements and separate unrelated

Group elements with high rates of information exchange

Partition so modules send finished products to other

modules

Partition to minimize complexity differences between

modules

Partition to create checks and balances

Partition at different levels of abstraction

Partition so modules exchange inputs and outputs at

similar levels

2

Create Interfaces Between Modules

Design interfaces to manage module interconnections

Design interfaces for low external module complexity

(loose coupling) and high internal complexity (strong

cohesion)

Design interfaces between the system and the

environment

Make the interfaces clear and visible

Enforce the interfaces requirements

Test the interfaces before the implementation

Create better interfaces, not more interfacing

4

Organize Modules

Use activity sequencing to reduce module

interdependencies

Design external functionality before internal functionality

Do not send data to modules without “a need to know” 

Use module proximity to change rates of information flow

Postpone fixed binding until the last possible moment

Create libraries of reusable modules

Use configuration options to vary and reuse modules

3

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Integrate

Connect

Strengthen connections to increase system performance

Optimize and lean connections

Use margin to mitigate integration risk

1

Optimize

Create a usable system before optimizing

Prioritize optimization at the system level over the module

level

Optimize better understood elements

Optimize to increase efficiency

Use more optimization in competitive environments

Use optimization to surface problems

Beware of non-linear activity in optimized systems

Use decentralization to increase local optimization

Maintain flexibility with configurability

Increase sensing and reaction speed to reduce

optimization risk

2

Hold Margin

Hold margin for known risks

Reduce margin and increase exploration for unknown risks

Aggregate margin above a diverse group of optimizing

subsystems

Use high margins to rapidly overcome obstacles

Build margin into interfaces

Store margin in flexible forms

4

Lean

Achieve high quality first

Minimize waste

Create “flow” 

Minimize delay and inactivity

Create a cadence for operations

Reduce queues

Reduce or eliminate batch processing

3

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

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Adapt

Adapt

Use adaptability to respond to unknowns

Use adaptability to simplify regulation

Use decentralization to increase adaptability

Understand change by identifying what is stable

Value connectedness over continuity

1

Increase Sensitivity

Invest in sensing and monitoring capability

Quickly respond to deviations (decrease inertia) for

dynamic goals

Prioritize change speed over change management

Increase the diversity of resources that flow into the

system

Increase the system's capacity to use diverse resources

Increase the size of the population and element

independence

Recognize highly adaptive systems resist long term

planning

2

Decentralize

Present decentralization as a set of skills, rather than a

philosophy

Support decentralized execution with centralized

regulation > CHKLST 9

Select and maintain a few key core processes and rules

Clearly articulate principles and purpose behind objectives

Audit actions based on conformance to guiding principles

Ensure decision makers feel both costs and benefits

Use incentives to influence behavior

Place responsibility for rule enforcement and dispute

management at the local level

Make feedback local

Retain data locally but make it accessible globally

Provide tools for local planning, rather than controlling

local planning

Increase info flow and decrease power differentials

Build the level of talent in the trenches

Establish and enforce common guidelines for civility, and

respect

Encourage face to face and voice communication

Weigh cost of occasional abuse against overall benefits

3

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

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Regulate

Regulate

Use regulation to reduce the gap between plan and reality

Clearly define desired results before creating regulation

Use risk management to regulate uncertainty residing

outside the system

Carefully vet increases in regulation; it quickly increases

cost, offers diminishing returns, and dampens innovation

When increasing regulation, plan for increases in planning

and monitoring

Beware oscillation from mismatched regulation andresponse cycles

Prefer regulate based on events instead of schedules

Prioritize preventative over reactive regulation

Regulate processes in addition to inputs and outputs

1

Stabilize

Invest in early warning mechanisms

Keep a compelling scoreboard and a cadence of

accountability

Maintain pressure on resources at a sufficient level of

discomfort

Create buffers and margin > CHKLST 7

Build in redundancy, quick swap, and multipurposeelements

2

Make Rules

Establish and maintain regulatory power through a mix of

legitimate, referent, expert, reward, and coercive means

Use rules to coordinate processes and hold systems

together

Direct rules towards prevention of error over punishment

Make rules easily available and understood

Specify what cannot be done rather than what can be

done

Look for distortions and rule beating caused by rules

Do not make unenforceable , contradictory, or retroactive

rules

Do not frequently change rules

Resist the attraction of across the board rules

3

This checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Additions and

modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  

Author: Gabe O’Connor 

Version 26 Nov 2013

Reduce Variation

Use repetition, dry runs, and test cycles

Reduce negative consequences of variation

Substitute cheap variability for expensive variability

Move variability to where its cost is lowest

4