Systems thinking · 1/6
From events to systems: set a boundary
Define goals, time horizon, stocks and flows.
About 15–20 minutes. The following cases are fictional.
Record your first judgment
A support queue never clears. A manager asks everyone to reply faster.
Understand the judgment process
An isolated backlog is an event; change over time reveals patterns. Include key processes affecting the goal and name external conditions left out.
Pending tickets are a stock. Arrivals, completions and rework are daily flows. Counts and counts per day need an explicit time step.
Checks you can perform
- Define a goal: reduce waiting without reducing resolution quality.
- Name variables and units.
- Identify queue inflows and outflows.
- State external demand and omissions.
Guided practice
Start with 20 tickets; one day adds 8, completes 6 and returns 2. What is the next backlog?
Explore the explanation
20+8−6+2=24. Here rework returns the same day; real delayed returns need a separate delay rule.
Apply it in a new context
Distinguish cafeteria queue length from arrival rate.
Compare after attempting
People waiting is a stock at a time; arrivals are people per minute. Specify service rate, observation time and departures.
Preserve an intervention record
A boundary serves a question; it is not a complete copy of reality.
Check whether you supplied inspectable evidence, a feasible next step and intervention conditions. Revealing an answer is not mastery.
Source and scope
Donella Meadows — Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System
The source provides conceptual or methodological background. Cases, steps and exercises are authored here; they are not the original experiment or evidence of this course’s effectiveness.
Completion is a personal record, not proof of mastery or certification.