Close Encounters with Systems

Systems are more than just software systems, they include the teams working on them and consuming them, and they include us, our assumptions, our timing, and our expectations! Systems are made up of smaller systems and make up larger systems too, and getting the right system modeled is a big part of the battle. In this experiential deep dive, you will learn how the way we model a system affects the way we think about it, as different models of the same system reveal different truths about it. Two models can both be true and look very different from each other.
The models we choose can change our decisions, design, and debugging strategies. Bugs are rarely isolated. They stem from small interactions, or many interactions, that become dependencies for things downstream. Thinking in systems gives us the ability to see nearly invisible threads that make up these interactions and the tools to respond with clarity rather than chaos. You’ll learn:

– How you visualize a system affects how you think about the system.
– Models are like heuristics, useful to a point and helpful for the story you want to tell.
– Thinking in systems helps you know what to test and, just as importantly, when to test.
– Every output is someone’s input. We are all inextricably linked.

Bring your curiosity and pencil and paper or your phone/tablet as we embark on a journey to have Close Encounters with Systems, and leave with a conceptual toolkit to help hone your thinking about systems!