What's a good beginner's book for system thinking?

January 23, 2019 8:15 AM

I supervise a team member who is new to the concept of systems thinking and I'm looking for a good beginner-level book on this.

I'm looking for something generic (not industry-specific). I lead a team of system thinkers and this new member is new to the concept, and I would like to give this person some background reading.

posted by archimago to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Best answer: Can you clarify what you're looking for in more detail? Because systems analysis is an absolutely massive field of research and practice, and a lot of it may not be useful for your purposes. In the mean time, Here are some scholarly overviews and bibliographies for analyzing and modeling systems. Here is a selection of magazine articles in Quanta magazine. Here's an article from Harvard Business review.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:24 AM on January 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows
posted by Snacks at 8:40 AM on January 23, 2019 [9 favorites]

Came here to recommend the Meadows book.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:42 AM on January 23, 2019

I like An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Jerry Weinberg.
posted by weft at 8:47 AM on January 23, 2019

Weft's link should go here.
posted by beagle at 9:14 AM on January 23, 2019

Seconding the Meadows book. This is a shorter essay from her called Leverage Points: Places to intervene in a System.
posted by suedehead at 9:16 AM on January 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

Not a book, and probably more intense than you are looking for, but I found the (free!) +Acumen Systems Practice class very helpful in gaining a basic understanding of systems work.
posted by hessie at 11:19 AM on January 23, 2019