Every Organization Is a System. Are You Designing It or Just Living in It?

Have you ever felt like you're solving the same problems over and over, just in different forms? That's usually a sign you're working transactionally, fixing what surfaces instead of addressing the structures underneath.

In this episode, Kevin tries to do something he should have done a long time ago: actually teach how to develop systems thinking. He's talked about its importance plenty of times on the show, but he realized he'd never given people a practical path to build the skill. So he lays out a four-stage progression, from learning to see the system around you, to mapping it, to understanding how it constrains and enables your teams, to intervening with awareness of cascading effects.

Kevin shares a story about a time he built the right system but failed to communicate it to his peers, and what that cost him. He also talks about how AI is making systems thinking more urgent, because speeding up one part of your process without understanding the whole system just creates new bottlenecks.

Whether you're a new manager trying to think more strategically or a senior leader who wants to get better at teaching this skill to others, this episode gives you concrete exercises you can try this week.

• Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
• The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022 (https://itdependsbook.net)
• Your host: Kevin Goldsmith (https://kevingoldsmith.com)
• Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Donella H. Meadows (Amazon Link)
• Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders, Jurgen Appelo (Amazon Link)