Systemic design

for tackling
complexity
Session 2: Framing & Listening

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Agenda Framing & Listening
Tools to frame the system
⁃ Rich Context
⁃ Actors Map

Tools to listen to the system

⁃ Research Questions
⁃ Contextual Interview
⁃ Social Ecosystem

Interview analyses

Homework
Interview assignment
How to process the results

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Framing
the system

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Stage 1
Framing the System
The first stage frames the scope and boundaries
of the current system for the full design
lifecycle process.

⁃ What is the purpose of the system?

⁃ What are the social, physical, and temporal
boundaries of the system?
⁃ What are the forces that cause the need for
change?
⁃ Who is active in the system and how are the
relationships influencing the dynamics?
⁃ What new innovations and practices are
emerging?

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Rich Context
Finding places for all perspectives.

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Rich Context
A method helping to understand the
“big picture” by mapping the current
practices, trends and innovative
initiatives in the system.

Why
⁃ To generate shared understanding
about the current and potential future
context.

Inspired by FW Geels – “Processes and patterns in transitions and system innovations” © Service Design College
Emerging niche initiatives
If there is a systemic issue to be addressed
there are always niche initiatives emerging.

⁃ If there are no niche initiatives, there is

no need for change (or no perceived
urgency), or no possibility to change.

They show the emerging pathways for

potential systemic change.

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Exercise - MIRO

Rich Context
What is the context of the issue?

⁃ Landscape: long term trends

⁃ Why is the issue rising? What is putting pressure
on the system?

⁃ Regime: current ways of doing

⁃ How is the client/society currently dealing with it?

⁃ Niches: emerging alternative ways of doing

⁃ What are the new, innovative ways
of dealing with it?

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9

Volunteer work
Citizens are for people who
hosting refugees are new in
Belgium.

EU funds for
Refugee camps migrant
integration

Increasing
Climate change violent conflicts
and wars

Asylum seekers Refugees

should adapt to sleeping in the
National values' streets

Policy dialogues
with key
migrants
communities
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Actors Map
Who are the actors in the entire ecosystem?

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Actors Map
A method to represent the position of the key
players in the systems and their mutual relations
with regard to the issue and purpose.

Why
⁃ You make an actors map to identify and select
who you want to interview in your field research.
⁃ Cocreating an Actors map is a good starting point
for any team to find the Parts of the system.
⁃ It shows where the team has knowledge or gaps
in the social network.

Inspired by “conflict analyses” from GSDRC and the Nesta discussion paper ‘systems innovation © Service Design College
Different formats…

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EEN
⁃ Stakeholder map for EEN
(Enterprise Europe Network –
connecting innovative SMEs in
Europe)
⁃ From inner to outer levels = from
primary to tertiary stakeholders
⁃ Turned into a visually pleasing
deliverable/poster

Text © Service Design College

Tool

Actors Map
Who is acting in the system and thus creating
the behaviour?

⁃ Who are the main actors in the system?

⁃ From user level to policy level
⁃ Power/knowledge axes

⁃ What is the nature of the interactions?

An actor can also be a non-human agent,

e.g. drones

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Example
⁃ King Baudouin Foundation
⁃ Layers: micro, meso, exo, macro
⁃ Types of actors:
⁃ Having the knowledge
⁃ Healthcare sector
⁃ Wellbeing sector
⁃ …

Text © Service Design College

Exercise - MIRO

Actors Map
Consumerism: who is acting in the system and
thus creating the behaviour?

⁃ Who are the main actors in the system?

⁃ From user level to policy level
⁃ Power/knowledge axes

⁃ (What is the nature of the interactions?)

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Listening
to the system

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Stage 2
Listening to the System
The Listening stage is about inquiring
behaviours of the system through
engaging participants, through field
studies, ethnography, participatory
workshops, and social research.

The purpose of the field research is to gain

insight into:
⁃ The factors that, positively and
negatively, contribute to the problem
⁃ The way the factors influence each other
⁃ The dynamics over time

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Research
Questions
The most powerful access to the system is asking the right questions

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Research Questions
A method to prepare your interview
questions on multiple levels of depth. Explore
alternative
Litany futures
Why
⁃ The purpose is to, hypothetically, write
down what you know about the issue on Structures/Systems
the four levels and to formulate
questions about what to verify and Worldviews
investigate further.
Myths/metaphors
⁃ In the explore stage [5] the Iceberg tool
can be used to ideate, building up from a
Shift the metaphor
new metaphor.
Based on Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) by Sohail Inayatullah © Service Design College
Homework – MIRO

Research Questions
From your preparation, formulate
hypotheses and questions for each level.
Probe for:

⁃ Events & trends: what is happening?,

How did it evolve over time?
⁃ Structures & systems (underlying STEEPL
causes): What is causing the events?
⁃ Worldview & values (paradigms): What
assumptions, beliefs and values are
underpinning the social causes?
⁃ Myths: What beliefs keep the paradigm in
place?
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Exercise - MIRO
What does your

Research Questions
job feel like?

I’m putting in a
It is interesting lot of energy

Train yourself in using this tool as a and challenging but not moving
forward

conversation technique.
Who could help
Do you see The companies
to foster this
underlying organised in
⁃ Start from a general question, e.g. what reasons for this?
long term
thinking?
network

does shopping/consuming feels like?

⁃ Identify on which level the interviewee is
On policy level
responding. there a lack of
long term
⁃ Ask question on the same or the other thinking

levels to probe for more details or causes.

Can you
Can you
summarise your I feel like a rat
elaborate on
job with an on a treadmill
this?
image?

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Metaphors case
We were asked to coach 12 civil society organisations to implement
an EFS (European Social Fund) project around integration over 24
months.

We kicked off with 4 focus groups of 20 participants each. Knowing that

there was a mistrust between participants, we started with metaphors.
- What is your image of the topic today?
- What is your image of the ideal future?

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They all agreed on the vision for the future
and the distrust immediately disappeared
Text © Service Design College
Contextual
Interviews
It's even better to observe what people do, than to study what they say they do

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Contextual Interviews
An interview method to discover the
factors that are contribution to the issue.

Why
⁃ To understand the variables, causal
relationships and dynamics
⁃ You are looking for input for your causal
loop system map in the next stage.

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Homework – MIRO

Contextual Interviews
What is creating the behaviour
of the system?

⁃ Experience over time

⁃ Change triggers over time
⁃ Interactions with others

Steps
⁃ Describe the phase/activity
⁃ Draw the experience (+ and -); what
were the triggers? Why?
⁃ Context

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Example

Text © Service Design College

Social
Ecosystem
Everybody lives within a social ecosystem, which is always within a bio-ecosystem

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Homework – MIRO

Social Ecosystem
A tool providing categories that reveal the
influences on people and organizations by
locating their interaction and development
across multiple social environments.

Why?
⁃ To understand the relationships comprising
the systems that people (who you research)
are living within.
⁃ You want to understand the different types of
influences on human behavior and how they
relate to the issue.

Based on the model of Uri Bronfenbrenner © Service Design College

Social Ecosystem
Developed further as a mapping of criteria
for flourishing within each of these
ecosystem layers, so that these goals and
motivators can be better addressed.

⁃ To help us understand the entire culture of

people within the system of interest
⁃ Criteria for flourishing (in the boxes) from
best available research, from psychology,
planning, sociology.
⁃ Used to define societal flourishing as the
preferred outcome of sustainability

Based on Peter Jones (2017) Social ecologies of Flourishing: Designing conditions that sustain culture © Service Design College
Homework – MIRO

Social Ecosystem
Put your profile under investigation in the
center and add notes to indicate the direct
relationships involved, e.g. spouse, family...

Name & define influences discovered in the

different levels.
Indicate who is/was involved & how connected
⁃ For example, social media influences me to buy
things that I don't really need, but which reflect
that I am along with my friends' lifestyles.

Make sure to probe for influences on different

levels during your interviews.

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Social Ecosystem
A brief case from Peter's OCAD class:
Mental Health concerns in International Students

⁃ An international student may deal with new

challenging experiences when entering a
Canadian university
⁃ We can find the multiple dimensions of social
systems the student navigates when trying
to get settled and learn the context
⁃ The socioecological model gives insight into the
multiple competing pressures in the new
"microsystem"
⁃ And the demands of the new exo-system of
official institutions

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Interview
Analyses
Making sense of learning to gain some insight

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Interview Analysis
Use the DIKW framework for analysis of the content and
themes in interviews

⁃ Data are direct observations, from interviews or sticky notes.

Categories can be defined for classifying data.
⁃ Information is the translation of data into structured
representations. Labelling categories builds information
structures. You want to summarise findings across multiple
observations.
⁃ Knowledge is interpretive. Define recurring patterns, causal
relationships among factors, and the significance of meanings.
⁃ Wisdom is the ability to make good decisions based on the
learning, to creatively define theories about the underlying
systems behaviour, and to propose empowering futures.

Ackoff believed the goal of the DIKW process was to achieve an

Understanding that empowers the ability to design or change
systems.
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Interview Analysis
There are many ways to use the DIKW frame.
A simple way:

⁃ Data – Collect points from interviews, articles, &

sticky notes. Data can be posted up in tables in an
online whiteboard or spreadsheet
⁃ Information - Label categories (or as headings)
and summarise findings into themes and cases. Find
variables for causal loops
⁃ Knowledge - Find and propose recurring patterns,
causal relationships, discover meanings in a team
analysis
⁃ Wisdom – Create insight statements, design ideas
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Homework

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Homework: Interviews
⁃ Each participant will at least interview two consumers.
⁃ Very different profiles, e.g. quantity vs. quality shopper.

⁃ Try out the different techniques if you can:

⁃ CLA Iceberg; Contextual Interviews; Social Ecosystem…

Pilot these techniques with another learner or with your housemates

before actually conducting the interviews.

You don’t need to use (all) the tools. It is the structure that is important.
A typical interview lasts about 1 hour, more or less depending on the interest of the participant.

(Audio or) Videorecord your interviews, and use the transcription feature (not displayed) to help in analysis.
Tip: You can also run the recordings through transcription software such as Otter.ai or use Zoom or Teams
transcription, especially if in English.

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Homework: Processing the results
Review your interview transcripts and notes for:
⁃ Contribution factors (negative and positive)
⁃ Causal relationships
⁃ Themes
⁃ Evolutions over time (getting better, worse, in balance or stuck)

Use the DIKW analysis to draw out patterns, themes, causal relations

Translate your notes into English (e.g. Deepl) and bring them along to the next session in
two weeks.

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Q&A

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Live sessions calendar
Week 1 Introduction
Week 2 (Oct. 07) Framing & Listening

Week 3 No live session, time to conduct interviews

Week 4 (Oct. 21) Understanding

Week 5 (Oct. 28,) Envisioning
Week 6 (Nov. 04) Exploring

Week 7 No live session, time to prepare presentations

Week 8 (Nov. 18) Planning & Transition

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