Welcome to the Engineering Synergy blog. We welcome considered contributions of 1,000 words or less in the spirit of learning together about how to engineer desired outcomes. Particularly we welcome practical examples of good and bad experiences. Please feel free to make comments and ask questions about anything on this web site – but make […]
Tony Buzan invented mind maps as a simple tool for thinking through the issues relevant to a problem. We use them to develop our process models. The technique is actually very simple. Let’s illustrate it here by writing a mind map for becoming a systems thinker based on our axioms. Our top level process – […]
Three Examples of quantitaive use of Italian Flags based on the demo page Try these examples and see how they work for you. 1. Owning a dam and running it successfully Parent (top) Process 1: Owning a dam Child (bottom left) Process 2: Assessing the stability of the dam Child (bottom right) Process 3: Operating […]
We believe that systems thinking should have a strong philosophical foundation. We are not philosophers but nevertheless we invite comment on the questions we raise below. The views we express are strongly influenced by Aristotle, Plato, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Martin Heideggar, Karl Popper, John Dewey, Thomas Kuhn and Nancy Cartwright. We think that four basic […]
WHY do we need holons? The moon is a whole but also part of the solar system. Moonlight is an emergent property of the relationship between it, the sun and the earth WHAT are holons? Anything considered at the same time to be both a part and a whole. A holon has emergent properties that […]
Distributing the votes using an Italian Flag As we said on the previous page using an Italian Flag quantitatively is similar to using standard probability but is just a little more complicated because we include the white interval of incompleteness. In standard probability theory on the previous page we had just 4 areas over which to […]
Kurtz and Snowden [2003] have proposed a sense-making framework, device or model called Cynefin also see here. Cynefin has been used to help cope with situations where the normal assumptions of order, rational choice and intentional capability break down. The framework is intended to help us assess whether a particular approach is appropriate for a particular situation or set […]
Help for the Italian Flag demo page Start by looking at the demo page and then return to this page for interpretation and guidance. The html/Javascript code is freely available on application by email through the contact page of this website. Note that to start the demo you must move/click your cursor over the rectangular […]
by Stirrat, GM1, Blockley D I2, Alexander K3, Phillips S4 1 Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Bristol, UK. 2 Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol. 3 GP & Chair Bristol North and West Locality Leadership Group at Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG, UK. 4 Alliance Director (Interim)| Lambeth […]
by Mike Johnson As Transport for London’s (TfL) ban on Über comes into effect, there appear to be quite polarised views for and against this somewhat disruptive taxi firm. When reading that Über will contest the ban in the courts, I was left pondering what’s actually unique from a systems perspective between Über and those […]
by Stirrat, GM1, Blockley D I2, Alexander K3, Phillips S4 1 Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Bristol, UK. 2 Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol. 3 GP & Chair Bristol North and West Locality Leadership Group at Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG, UK. 4 Alliance Director (Interim)| Lambeth […]
What are the advantages and disadvantages of quantifying our Italian Flags? The advantages are rigour – ensuring we do not make logical errors and our judgements are consistent conflict – identifying conflicting evidence learning – being able to explore quite easily alternative judgements repeatability – judgements are repeatable The disadvantages are risk – a danger of putting too much […]
A ‘Thought Piece’ – for discussion by Gordon Stirrat1, David Blockley2, Kirsty Alexander3 & Sabrina Phillips4 1 Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Bristol, UK. 2 Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol. 3 GP & Chair Bristol North and West Locality Leadership Group at Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG, […]
One way to identify the learning pathways referred to on our sense-making page is to see them as movements or learning journeys on the modified Cynefin diagram as below. For any complex problem there are many stakeholders, many points of view and much uncertainty. What do we do? How do we act? We see four […]
