Essay
POSIWID: Cracking The Code on System Failure
Most people misunderstand systems, while systems rule their lives. They believe their circumstances are random or predetermined.
"The purpose of a system is what it does," often expressed as POSIWID in systems thinking circles.
"Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results it gets.” - Don Berwick
A system's purpose is not what you want it to be, or anticipate it to be — a system reveals its purposes through its results.
If your system isn't delivering the desired results, then it's the wrong system, regardless of intent. System results speak for themselves, they are non-debatable.
If you want different results, you need a different system.
I used to insist to myself I had the right systems, and stuck with them too long. I thought I just needed to do it better.
When I talk about personal systems, I mean the cause-and-effect looping that impacts our lives — in both our own actions and the repeating patterns in our environment. How can we harness them to serve us? It's challenging because the systems around us are vast and obscure. However, the more we can uncover about them, the more we can shape our lives.
Before designing or expanding systems, we need to understand the ones we're already enmeshed in.
The first step in designing and improving systems is awareness. We're already embedded within layers of systems, and no system starts from scratch. Our lives and the organizations we’re part of are deeply entrenched; no system operates in isolation. We’re in social systems, economic systems, political systems, physical systems, personal systems.
If you want to change your results in any aspect of life, you must change some aspect of the systems around you. This requires an understanding of the components of the systems, their interactions, and the feedback loops that drive their behavior. By analyzing these elements, you can identify leverage points for intervention and redesign the system to align with your desired outcomes.
Start by identifying the levers you can control or influence. While many system elements are beyond your reach, determine which you can impact. Focus on those you can change. Over time, expand your influence with improved skills, greater resources, and broader networks. System feedback loops can further expand these levers.
Designing or enhancing a system requires challenging assumptions, experimenting with new approaches, and iterating based on feedback. It demands a systems thinking mindset, recognizing that every element is interconnected and that changes in one area can have extensive consequences.
When I see others discussing or teaching systems, they often list a series of steps — a process or routine, a step-by-step series of actions. That’s not a system, that’s an SOP. A system is more than a sequence of steps. It’s overlapping cause-and-effect loops feeding off each other in predictable ways (sometimes complex, but always with an underlying rationality). It’s dynamic, interactive, and environmental.
Inventory the systems you’re a part of. Identify the cause-and-effect loops and mechanics you observe. Determine the recurring results and trace the steps or actions leading to these outcomes. Map and write them out in sequential steps.
What's the chain of events leading to the result? Reverse engineer it from the result to the prior steps. You can't do this in your head, you need to map it on paper or in a visual software tool. My preferred flowchart app is Whimsical, with Miro as a close second.
Deconstruct the forces around you. Think deeply about the chain of events across your actions and environments. This will bring clarity.
In future issues, we’ll further explore ways to shape personal systems and get into applying them.