A systems thinking approach for designers

How do we understand our impact as designers on the whole system? How do we see the whole system in the first place? And why does it matter?

Transcript

1. 1 Understanding our impact as designers Laura Yarrow @laura_yarrow A systems thinking approach for designers
2. 2 Coronavirus Economic turmoil Stockpiling of food and empty supermarkets Sick people still attending work to get paid Hospital staff unable to get food Remote working and the rise of remote tools Job losses and redundancy School closures A new routine with kids and work Rises in domestic violence Deaths and sickness across the globe
3. 3 What impact? • Changing peoples behaviour • Changing attitudes • Inserting ourselves into the cultural narrative • Changing society We have more influence that we realise
4. 4 When you design a product or a service, you are also designing a small part of a larger system
5. 5 Good design has the ability to improve the human environment
6. 6 It’s our responsibility to make sure our impact is a positive one
7. 7 I work in digital and experience design
8. 8 I work in digital and experience design And there are times when I could exploit human behaviour
9. 9 "Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." Eliel Saarinen - Finnish-American architect
10. 10 “A System is a set of components that work together for the overall benefit of the whole" Failing to see the whole system
11. 11 FOMO Cambridge Analytica Addictive behaviours (eg: infinite scroll) Cyberbullying Unrealistic expectations & authenticity Manipulation and dark patterns Human commoditisation Behavioural problems and obesity Voting scandals
13. 13 Enter systems thinking… Systems thinking is a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system's constituent parts interrelate, how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. Behaviour results from the effects of reinforcing and balancing processes.
14. 14 Example systems
15. 15 Systems of systems Welfare system Economic system Healthcare system Family
16. 16 Causal loop diagrams and feedback loops https://thesystemsthinker.com/guidelines-for-drawing-causal-loop-diagrams-2/
17. 17 • Systems thinking expands the range of choices available for solving a problem by broadening our thinking and helping us articulate problems in new and different ways. Summary • A framework and way of thinking to make sense out of an organization's complexities, since all things are systems.
18. 18 Systems thinking is a problem solving mindset for designers and researchers
19. 19 Systems thinking concepts • Emergence • Leverage points More in: “Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows • Systems archetypes
20. 20 Emergent behaviour Behaviours we are responsible for creating as designers
21. 21 Spotting emergent behaviour in your work The importance of websites for social housing • Usability testing and redesign a website for a housing association offering social housing • If a housing associations website doesn’t work, it impacts the local council • Residents start phoning or visiting council offices to report issues with their social housing • We had the potential to create a variety of emergent behaviours for many actors in that system, if that website didn’t work • Some councils wouldn’t invite a housing association to build homes, if the website wasn’t usable enough - to save them from more work handling extra resident enquiries!
22. 22 Rather than attempt to design a wholly new, perfect solution, oftentimes it’s better to find areas where an incremental change will lead to significant renovation in the system. The smallest nudge for the biggest effect. Fast Company - https://www.fastcompany.com/90112320/design-thinking-needs-to-think-bigger Leverage Points Leverage points are often unintuitive
23. 23 Spotting leverage points in your work You don’t have to fix everything • “I don’t like being called a resident, it makes me sound like I’m a patient at an asylum” • Changing the terminology to something that resonated with the people living in the social housing had a bigger effect than some of the other content being considered
24. 24 Systems archetypes • Archetypes can be used as templates for diagnosing complex or long-term problems. • Can help you identify the systemic structures that are responsible “Patterns of behaviour of a system” • Enable you to spot issues with what you are designing
25. 25 Systems archetypes Archetype Mental Model Description Examples Tragedy of the commons “This resource belongs to me, and is too big to ever run out” Common resources inevitably get exploited by agents wanting to maximize their individual gain from the shared resource Fishing industry Race to the bottom “Speed and disposability are the most important factors” Players compete to be the lowest common denominator in the system Budget airlines Addiction “Dependancy offers some convenience for you” When agents become addicted to external forces to maintain the system Proprietary printer inks and coffee pods Success to the successful “Because that department is doing well, they must be good and others are not” The more success you get the easier it is to get more success and the harder it is for others to get access to success Fast fashion Many more archetypes here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_archetype
26. 26 Spotting Archetypes in your projects 1. Only designing for the fittest customers “Everyone is capable of reaching the heights of fitness” “We want to reward those that put in the extra hours of activity and really push themselves” Systems thinking warning signs: Success to the successful Archetype spotted:
27. 27 Spotting Archetypes in your projects 2. Council deciding the solution is more buses “We know that if we can get X more buses and bus routes, that gets Y number of cars off the roads” Systems thinking warning signs: Fixes that fail Growth and underinvestment Archetype spotted:
28. 28 These gaps in systems start small but they start somewhere, with myopic thinking from business stakeholders that are far removed from the effects of their decisions.
29. 29 Adjusting to a systems mindset in UX and research A systemic code of conduct
30. 30 A systemic code of conduct 1. Embrace complexity “The easy way out often leads back in” • Systems mapping • Contextual and deep research • Work out where the boundaries are • Looking for systems archetypes or “systems traps” Food systems map that shows how multiple subsystems interact (Source: adapted from the Nourish initiative n.d.)
31. 31 A systemic code of conduct 2. Don’t jump to a solution Seek to understand first • Be happy to sit with the ambiguity • Focus on your discoveries • Separate symptoms of a problem from the cause • Uncover levers and interventions • Stay curious!
32. 32 A systemic code of conduct 3. Look for the tiny, non-obvious levers It’s not always about the big changes • Where are the feedback loops? • Identify the nodes and parts • Identify the relationships • Look at the non-obvious parts of a system that you might normally ignore • What minor changes can you make?
33. 33 A systemic code of conduct 4. Understand the level you're approaching the system from This affects the type of intervention or change you design • What is your sphere of influence? • Microscopic to planet level • How much influence do you have at this level? • What can you change? • Can you change level to increase how much you can change the system?
34. 34 A systemic code of conduct 5. Account for delays in the system The difference in time between the action and the desired outcome (or undesirable!) • What you implement now won’t have an effect for a while • Anticipate what can happen in between your change and the effect - what can change? • With delays between relationships in a system, you can misinterpret the impacts, outcomes, or causes of an event
35. 35 A systemic code of conduct 6. What are the possible unintended consequences Good intentions don’t always lead to a good outcome • Pre-empt what could possibly go wrong • What are the knock on effects of that change? • Draw a causal loop diagram • Storyboard or model what could happen Residents homes Tenants homes
36. 36 6. What are the possible unintended consequences 5. Account for delays in the system 4. Understand the level you're approaching the system from 3. Look for the tiny, non-obvious levers 2. Don’t jump to a solution 1. Embrace complexity A systemic code of conduct
37. 37 In years to come, society will be living with the consequences of what you create today.
38. 38 You either design the system or you get designed by the system. Steve Vassallo
39. 39 Books
40. 40 Thank you! @laura_yarrow laurayarrow@gmail.com