This week is about finding ways of representing your thinking about complex situations-- making sense of complexity. This
is a process of discovery. It involves thinking about complexity in an orderly way that allows you to enter a deeper understanding
of the complexity. It goes beyond immersion in and representation of complexity.
The invitation I'm making in this week is to move into the possibility of structuring complexity. Notice I'm not suggesting
there is structure in the complexity I can discover. Rather, it is about discovering ways of structuring the complexity that
make sense to you.
By structuring the complexity, I can think more effectively about it and possibly discover ways of improving the situation.
And to discover ways of representing my thinking about the complexity, I'm going to use systems diagrams-- or, more fully,
diagrams that enable practitioners to represent a systems of interest. Systems diagrams are particular lenses or frames through
which we can study a complex situation, as shown by the different shapes in the cartoon. And just as I would use a microscope
or telescope to help me see different things more clearly in the same landscape, I can use different types of diagram to highlight
different types of structure and relationships within that complex situation-- or in other words, to identify different systems
of interest that I can compare and contrast. In this week, you will learn the power of diagrams for representing your thinking
about complex situations.