Systems Thinking white boarding animation project

White board animation by James Swanson

[MyGagaCat]

A slick "age-old paradigm" perspective on systems thinking. No talk of boundaries and constraints on the system. No talk of sustainable practices. No talk of the effects of potentially hazardous outputs of a system and it effect on the environment, i.e., opportunity costs.

[aaronisqwerty]

Very very helpful. I am extremely obsessed with productivity and have been practicing some of these ideas before knowing them by their names. Your video provided me with additional things to think about and point to some areas to for me to continue investigating on System Thinking. Thumbs up!!

[BruceMaples]

Nice video on optimizing processes - but very little about systems thinking.

[elijahgold]

Great introduction to a new way of thinking that could revolutionize the world, moving us out of the age of individualism and subjectivity and allowing us to see ourselves as actors in a global process.

[skeletonerecords]

the two ideas: that I don't care about things I don't own,
and that I only make choices based on a cheap price,
are both naive assumptions.
Healthy sustainable systems may require both altruism and mutualism....

[winnna]

Agree with Eduardo. I don't see any Systems Thinking here. Only manufacturing-era system and process engineering.
But a nice-looking action sketch / scribing video anyways.

[triforce]

I also love a nice cup of hot water and a filter full of dry coffee grinds.

[janovesakkestad]

System thinking is to see the big picture how things relates to eachother its a holistic process

[jamesswansonfineart]

Thanks Lex,
It's pretty fast after you get all the OKs and been doing it for a while. After the sketches and idea are worked out the animation is pretty simple to do if you can draw and have a style down pretty well. Working out the dance of the pencil is the hardest part. Knowing what needs to be drawn with connection to the script. thanks for the comment.

[joebreskin]

Clearly a lecture by a man who has never lived with a good "always on" espresso machine that can dump hot water for making tea, froth milk for hot cocoa or blast a double in under 30 seconds :)  

But I agree with him on one of his points: that the stuff that is most often worth focusing on - aside from the goal of the effort - is almost always stuff that w/in our sphere of influence, i.e. that's actionable.

But he totally misses the most important issue: that it is not about "doing the wrong thing right" it's about "doing the right thing" which involves looking up to see where the path you're on actually leads.

[Inspiration-ITV]

I love this animation. Is it timely and hard to do? I'd love to know what the process is.

[Nicole-qugr]

0:36 - Apparently, you can dump the coffee grounds in the coffee maker before adding the filter but after turning the machine on...

[tonisorenson]

Good morning, I love how you explained this.  I am wondering if I can use this in a Business Essential class that I teach as part of our non-profit company.

[rooosterboy]

The key is choice, and choice is FREEDOM!!! spew

[sathya]

thanks for providing a simple video to understand the system thinking. It is effective mainly due to the practical approach.

[DevonReviewer]

Great video, for me, it was a helpful introduction to systems thinking. Thank you

[DaSequitur]

Well it's 2013. The K-Cup is open for use after a "legal" hold up. Mass customizing of a cup of coffee is underway. Design Thinking is underway. Much has changed. Small but important change. Thanks for the video.

[darylkulak]

I agree with Eduardo below.  This is a reductionist view. Systems thinking is a different animal. The reason Churchman and Ackoff deserted operations research was because of this reductionist approach.

[MoirasDeschool]

This is a very limited and linear view of what system thinking is, a true system is far more dynamic.

[EduardoMercovich]

Thanks, will do that. It strikes me that usually "Systems Thinking" is used for other things...

Your animation is beautiful. :)
Best...
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