Make some brief notes, and perhaps drawings, in your journal on what the words ‘strategy’ and ‘systems’ mean to you. Do this as a brief brainstorming exercise, noting down any word associations or images that come to mind in relation to each term.
After jotting down a few ideas, I used GPT-4 as a thought partner along with Whimsical to separate this out into two mindmaps with themes, sub-themes, and examples.
Strategy
System
Example from course authors
Once I’d done this, I then pressed ‘reveal discussion’ in the module pages and saw what the course authors had created as an example:
It turns out I approached this from a ‘noun’ rather than ‘verb’ perspective. If I was going to do this again, I’d definitely add a temporal dimension.
The course authors go on to mention that there are two prevalent views of systems in modern industrial societies. One sees systems as real-world entities with a degree of autonomy or as forces opposing human efforts, like the ‘health system’ or ‘legal system’. This perspective treats systems as independent and engineerable (i.e. reified). The other view is to see systems not as physical entities but as conceptual tools to help us understand and manage various situations. With systems thinking we are, of course, interested in the latter view.
I’ve also separated out TB871 from TB872 so that posts from each module are also grouped separately.You can get an RSS feed for any category from this blog by appending /feed to the url.
After deliberating over it for quite a long time, on the last day it was possible to register for my next MSc module, I decided to do so. The first module I studied for this qualification, TB872, was hard. It was doubly so as it’s essentially the second module, which for some reason I was allowed to take first. I’m assured by my tutor, Pauline Roberts, the same as I had for the last module, that I should TB871 easier.
This module (TB871: Making strategy with systems thinking in practice) starts from today, May 1st, and runs October 15th, when my End of Module Assessment will be due. I’ll then have the option to choose from quite a range of modules to study afterwards, from technical stuff like Network Security through to things that are probably more my kind of thing such as Sustainable Organisations: Theory and Practice.
TB871 seems a lot more, dare I say it, systematically organised than TB872. As the module study guide describes it:
TB871 consists of six blocks of study over 20 weeks, followed by 4 consolidation weeks. There are two parallel streams of learning – a primary Tools stream and a complementary People stream. The Tools stream is where you will gain practical knowledge of, and some confidence in, using a range of established systems approaches for interaction with complex situations. The People stream is where you will gain an awareness of how such practice is shaped by the often idiosyncratic ways people think and interact. The two streams run through all six blocks of the module. Together they are designed to develop your capabilities as a systems thinking practitioner.
In terms of what is covered in the Tools stream and the People stream:
The six blocks of the Tools stream are:
Block 1 Systems and strategy
Block 2 System dynamics
Block 3 Viable system model
Block 4 Strategic options development and analysis
Block 5 Soft systems methodology
Block 6 Critical systems heuristics
[…]
The six blocks of the People stream are:
Block 1 Encountering unknowns and knowns
Block 2 Working with metaphors
Block 3 Facing up to perception, projection and bias
Block 4 Working with individual differences
Block 5 Facilitating encounters with STiP
Block 6 The gathering (bringing together the People stream and the Tools stream)
The following is an activity model of how it all comes together, again taken from the module study guide:
I’ve introduced myself to my fellow students in the forums. There are some that took TB872 with me, which is good, but also people studying different qualifications (modularity is great!) and from all around the world doing all different kinds of jobs.
As oppoesd to the previous module, I’m going in with my eyes open for this one. I know what’s expected of me, how distance learning works, and how it feels. Thankfully, having moved house the week before TB872 started and also the week after it ended, I don’t have any of that additional stress to deal with!
Most of the stuff I write here and elsewhere comes as a result of the work I do, or the thinking about the work I do. This includes the “what-ifs” and the “imagine a world” scenarios. I try to write them as best I can, but my main objective is to get the words out there so that a) people can read them, and b) I’ve got a URL to point people towards.
Last October, I published a pair of posts on the WAO blog about using Open Recognition to map real-world skills and attributes. I spent a lot longer on them than usual, especially the second one:
I obviously didn’t get the elevator pitch quite right, because although I had a few conversations with people, it didn’t get as much traction as I envisaged. What I’m proposing is a kind of open discovery engine for talents and dispositions. It includes a way to recognise these through Verifiable Credentials, and to tag them in a way that make sense across different frameworks and rubrics.
In a spectacular example of burying the lede, my main reason for writing this post is to share some of the nice things people said about me as part of the experiment.
There were three main questions to which people in my network responded:
What do they know a lot about?
What are they particularly skilled in?
What behaviours do they exhibit which you, or others, find useful?
The (anonymous) quotations below are taken from the above, with square brackets added to help them make sense, or to add context:
As a former teacher and senior leader, along with a Doctor in Education, he know a lot about Education as a business and how people learn. He also has a strong interested in badges and certifications. He is also big into the open economy, working for Open Source companies like Mozilla and Moodle.
He is an exceptional speaker and has the ability to breakdown complicated topics into layman’s terms.
[Doug is particularly skilled] making sense of complex systems and processes, writing clearly and engagingly, building consensus and community.
[I find it especially useful that he has a] passion for learning, daily, sharing always and enabling others to accelerate their understanding through the shared learning.
I’ve always seen him as an all-round thinker, which in turn helps him to ask poignant questions to tackle a challenge.
[Doug is] helpful, open and honest.
He is Open both in he thinking but in how he lives. He is collaborative, works well with other people. Likes to workshop ideas and bring products/services to life.
Open sharing. Transparent knowledge resource. Inclusive. Non-judgemental. — As a result, the impact of engaging with Doug Belshaw is an indirect endorsement of the work I do.
Doug is not judgemental and asks the right questions. He doesn’t have a set answer in his mind to fit your answer into preconceived ideas he has. He can often share useful resources or ideas which can help develop my own thinking processes. Forthright and although a peaceful person, he is not afraid to be upfront and challenge when there is reason to.
Doug is the person that I most associate with open digital badges. He is also someone that is genuine and open and incredibly accomplished. He has a way of explaining things that sticks.
Timely and well organised. Brings the best out in people.
Doug’s thoughtfulness as a facilitator and team member is only matched by his sharp wit in his blog posts. Thought shrapnel for the win!
[Doug has an] ability to succinctly summarise conclusions from a group of people. Interested in other people and charismatic.
I’m not sure how useful any of this is for other people, but it’s cheered me up on a day when I’ve got less work on than usual. Ideally, I would know who wrote these things, be able to thank them, and then turn them into badges 🙂
