Don Norman Keynote at Relating Systems Thinking and Design 4 Symposium

[@DavidIng]

Don Norman with Pieter Jan Stappers on: What characteristics make a Design-X problem (or a complex socio-technical problem)? The list started as 3, became 8 by August, and then 9 after the dinner (in September): 1. There are lots of elements, and they're not independent of one another. 2. There are non-linear causal relations; it's a feedback systems. 3. There are long and unpredictable latencies. (You may never know the results, or a year later). 4. There are multiple disciplines, perspectives and frameworks. (Even people who are collaborating can have a problem). 5. There are multiple, incompatible constraints. (Usually designers work in the small, with fewer constraints; not so in large systems). 6. There are multiple scale sizes. 7. There are dynamically changing operating characteristics. (Large systems change. Usually when you've finished, the system is not the same). 8. People: A person is complex sociotechnical system, and a group of people is even more complex. Socio involves people and institutions. 9. We have complex systems with loops, but the way we want to analyze them is as a linear sequence of operations. This paper is in draft, and the list was spoken during the presentation, starting at about 15:30. Characteristic 6 was missed on the first time around, and surfaced as a response to a question around 51:00. See "DesignX: A Future Path for Design" | Don Norman (for The Design Collaborative) | Dec. 4, 2014 | LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141204175515-12181762-designx-a-future-path-for-design "DesignX: A Future Path for Design" | The Design Collaborative at www.jnd.org/dn.mss/designx_a_future_pa.html "Why DesignX" at www.jnd.org/dn.mss/why_designx.html

[@MartinLichtblau]

Well curated, but some deep but great insights are missing.

[@mithulanaik8118]

Great talk

[@MartinLichtblau]

Human nature stays imperfect and we will improve only by building better tools that support our strive for a better world! Perhaps...

[@vanthoftube]

Fantastic speech. It gave me a few ideas on coping with the general desire for linearity that may be useful for implementing systemic intervention designs produced by systems thinking, see wp.me/pGaM4-F0.