3 Basic Systems in the Real World

Ontological Awareness is determining what type of system you’re in

• In the real world, there are various ways to categorize systems
• One commonly used is based on behavior and what type of knowledge is present
• This is a single plane diagram of the 3 basic systems in the real world - Order , Complex, Chaos
• You’ll also hear Order called Deterministic and Chaos referred to Stochastic
• These 3 are not mutually exclusive
• You can move between systems except for the Chaos/Order boundary
• This is a physical cliff you can plunge down into Chaos
• Think of a piece of paper folded over to form an edge that you can fall
• Some of you may have heard the term Edge of Chaos
• If you’re familiar with the idea of “systems within systems”, we can talk about the diagram as a framework
• With 3 subsystems being nested in a Complex Adaptive System

Order System

• This is where most of our formal education and training in Systems Thinking takes place
• We like being here because it’s certain, predictable, and stable
• IF we do this, THEN we get that
• We play with Known knowns, Known unknowns which we call Risk
• And Unknown Knowns - things you don’t know but someone else does
• This is Tacit knowledge - unwritten things that only exist in a person’s brain
• We can reduce complicated problems into manageable components. Think of Lego bricks

Complex System

• We can’t break down complex problems. Think of Mayonnaise. We can’t separate out the oil, vinegar, water and ingredients.
• It’s also irreversible.
• We have to work with the whole otherwise we would ignore the new properties that emerge - flavour, taste, smell
• It’s why in Complexity, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• While that sounds like a real bummer, it also means we can take a small piece called a fractal to accurately represent the whole
• A spoonful of mayonnaise tastes like the whole jar
• That’s what we do in a Monte Carlo simulation. We generate random numbers or sampling techniques based on the fractal patterns

Chaos System

• Everything is random and variable
• In our framework definition, entering Chaos is unexpected, a surprise
• If you enter from Order, it’s a plunge down the cliff with major consequences
• If the consequences are negative, it’s an accident, an injury, or worse, fatality
• If Unknowables or Unimaginables are factors, we have Taleb’s Black Swans
• If consequences are positive, we call that Serendipity
• Examples include the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, the development of the microwave oven, and the invention of Post-it notes

• Let’s improve our view of the real world by making the following additions
• Let’s split Order into 2 domains: Complicated & Clear
• Add 1 domain in the middle
• Confused is the state of not knowing where you are
• This is the Cynefin Framework
• To get the language right, it’s not a 2x2 model with 5 quadrants
• With Cynefin, you can describe where you are in the Present
• It’s a Sense-making Framework to support decision-making