SYSTEMIC
DESIGN
TOOLKIT
Systemic
Design
Toolkit
Guide
SYSTEMIC
DESIGN
TOOLKIT
3
The entity of challenges we are facing is becoming
more complex, and conventional ways of problem
solving do not work anymore. In this fundamental
shift, systemic design seems to provide an answer
to tackle such complexity.
The systemic design toolkit is conceived by
designers and change-makers willing to trigger a
process of systemic tranformation. The tools are
meant to be used during collaborative co-creation
sessions.
This booklet will guide you through a selection
of eight techniques from the toolkit. These are
categorised according to different phases of the
design process, but that does not mean that you
cannot use them in different ways. We invite you
to be creative, to use and adapt them to your
project. We hope this kit will be the trigger to start
a creative conversation and catalyse a process of
change.
Design tools
to tackle
complexity
7 steps
The toolkit
methodology
5
1. Framing the
system
Design thinkingSystems thinking
2. Listening to
the system
3. Understanding
the system
4. Defining the
desired future
5. Exploring the
possibility space
6. Designing the
intervention model
7. Fostering the
transition
Framing the
system
Step 1
7
Setting the boundaries
of your system in space
and time, identifying the
hypothetical parts and
relationships.
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Recommended size: A0
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Materials
• Rich context template
• sticky notes
• markers
Instructions
Get a grip on the current situation by using the
template. Map:
1. Long-term trends. Write the trends affecting the
issue on sticky notes (e.g. climate change, popula-
tion growth, ageing, resources depletion…). Cluster
them in the center of the poster.
2. Current system: map the established ways of
doing (how is society currently dealing with the
issue? e.g. cultural and social norms, practices,
rules, infrastructure, existing networks, power
relations, ...).
3. Emerging niche initiatives: map the alternative
ways of doing (what are the new, innovative ways of
dealing with the issue?).
What
A technique that helps you understand the “big
picture” by mapping the current practices, trends
and innovative initiatives in the system.
Use it to generate shared understanding about
the current situation and identify the profiles you
should interview in your field studies.
Rich context
Listening to
the system
Step 2
11
Listening to the
experiences of people
and discovering how
the interactions lead to
the system’s behaviour.
Verifying the initial
hypotheses.
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Recommended size: A2
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Instructions
1. Go through your interview notes/transcripts from
the field studies. Study a relationship between two
roles (e.g. child, teacher). For each of them, choose
a picture and summarise their perspective on the
issue with a strong quote.
2. For each actant, draw the archetypical
experience over time with a curved line. Annotate
the key moments and positive/negative emotions.
3. Analyse the curves separately and try to define,
from the interviews, the qualitative and quantitave
factors/variables that influence the changes in the
experience.
4. Observe the curves together: focus on the
differences. Try to understand why the experiences
differ.
Materials
• interview notes
• Actants template
• markers
• pictures
What
A way to model, summarize and communicate your
systemic field research. The Actants describe an
archetypical relationship.
Use the tool as a base to understand and map the
system: it is useful to extract influencing variables
from the field studies.
Actants
Under-
standing
the system
Step 3
15
Seeing how the variables
and interactions
influence the dynamics
and emergent behaviour.
Identifying the leverage
points to work with.
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Recommended size: A0
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Materials
• System map template
• interview notes
• actants
• sticky notes
• markers
Instructions
1. Ideal relationship: make the ideal relationship
between the actants explicit, by identifying the
qualitative/quantitative variables exchanged be-
tween them. Write them on post-its and stick them
in the center of the poster.
2. Influencers: look back at the stories that
emerged from your interviews. Identify causal
loops and draw them around the “ideal future”.
3. Leverage points: connect the variables in the
loops to the core exchanges. Follow the logic of
growth and balance of the feedback loop diagrams.
Now look at the connections. Which variables are
the most influencing for the core relationship?
Note them down, as they are the leverage points.
What
A technique for visualising the system, its structure
and the interrelations between its elements.
Map the system to develop shared understanding
between the stakeholders about its complexity and
interdependencies. Also, use the map to discover
the leverage points in the system.
System map
Defining
the desired
future
Step 4
19
Helping the stakeholders
articulate the common
desired future and the
intended value creation.
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Recommended size: A1
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Materials
• Value proposition
template
• sticky notes
• markers
Instructions
Look at the leverage points you need to tackle,
and think about the future situation you want to
achieve by intervening in the system. Focus on
different aspects (ecological/economic benefits,
social values, ...).
1. Brainstorm on the benefits you want to provide
for the single individuals: write them on sticky
notes and place them in the center of the poster.
2. Write down the benefits that organisations/the
ecosystem will get. Place them around the first
circle.
3. Write down the benefits that your interventions
will provide on a societal level. Place them around
the second circle.
What
A tool to make the ideal future explicit, by listing
the benefits that the interventions will bring to the
future individuals, organisations and society.
Use the tool to stretch the ambition of the group
and align the stakeholders on the intended
outcomes.
Value proposition
Exploring the
possibility
space
Step 5
23
Exploring possible
ideas for intervening
on the leverage points.
Empowering the ideas
by working with the
paradoxes in the system.
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Recommended size: A0
25
Materials
• Intervention
strategy template
• sticky notes
• markers
Instructions
Look at your leverage points identified in the
system map: these are the challenges you are
going to tackle in order to achieve your desired
future.
Using the intervention strategy canvas:
- On which levels do you need to intervene to tackle
your challenges?
- What interventions are needed (e.g. improving
face-to-face communication, hiring more qualified
staff, taking more focused policy measures, raising
collective awareness on the topic, ...)?
Think about possible interventions, write them on
sticky notes. Stick your idea in the related area of
the canvas.
What
A brainstorming tool to understand and explore on
which levels (how) you can intervene in the system.
By exploring different possible typologies of
intervention, you make sure the future combination
of interventions will cover the big picture.
Intervention
strategy
Designing the
intervention
model
Step 6
27
Defining the engine for
change and its variations.
Iterating by envisioning
its implementation in
different contexts.
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Recommended size: A4
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Materials
• connectors
• round sticky notes
• markers
Instructions
1. Review your ideas included in the intervention
strategy canvas: which of those can reinforce or
enable each other?
2. Transcribe the ideas on sticky notes.
3. Stick the post-its on the provided props. Use
them to connect your ideas. Build your model of
interconnected interventions.
What
The intervention model describes the DNA of
change within a system; it contains the principles/
activities that will enable change in the system.
By looking at how interventions connect and
reinforce each other, you can envision an effective
strategy for change.
Intervention
model
30
CO
LLAB
OR
AT
ION
COLLAB
OR
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Teamwork
Working together
to achieve a co
mmon goal
Striving to gain or win
something that is scarc
e
Compete
BUSINESS MODEL
BUSINESS MODEL
Paid
Exchanged for money,
goods or services
Given or available without
charge or obligation
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Real, discernible
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Tangible
Existing
only
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the
m
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Intangible
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Materials
• paradox cards
• sticky notes
• markers
Instructions
Go through the paradox cards set:
1. Assign a paradox card to each intervention idea.
Choose a card that best describes the idea. Which
end of the paradox does the idea cover?
2. Evolve your intervention model, by refining the
existing ideas or adding new ones.
Make sure that:
- the “open” side of your paradoxes is covered as
well;
- the interventions representing the sides of each
paradox reinforce each other.
What
The paradox cards stimulate paradoxical
thinking: bringing together the opposite sides of
a problematic situation to achieve solutions for
the whole. The cards are useful to elaborate ideas
into more concrete concepts, and ensure such
concepts create positive reinforcing loops.
Paradox cards
Fostering the
transition
Step 7
33
Defining how the
interventions will mature,
grow and finally be
adopted in the system.
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Recommended size: A0
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Materials
• Roadmap for
transition template
• sticky notes
• intervention model
Instructions
Look at your intervention model:
1. First circle: what is the minimal version of the
intervention model that you can implement in a
first stage? On sticky notes, describe the minimal
version of the activities you plan to implement,
along with the actors involved.
2. Second circle: once the first activities are
accomplished, how can you connect them to like-
minded people/organisations? Write down the
names of such actors, and the activities you need
to create learning networks.
3. Third circle: how can you make sure your
interventions become an established practice in
the current system and reach the large public?
What
The roadmap for transition is a tool to plan the
implementation of the interventions in a way that
change occurs by design.
You use it to map the transition towards the
desired goal by planning and growing the
intervention model in time and space.
Roadmap for
transition
About
the toolkit
37
“Remember, always, that
everything you know,
and everything everyone
knows, is only a model.
Get your model out there
where it can be viewed.
Invite others to challenge
your assumptions and
add their own”.
Donella Meadows
Thinking in Systems: A Primer
38
The creators
A few years ago, the need of tackling increasingly
complex projects pushed Namahn and shiftN
to collaborate on a Systemic Design toolkit.
At the RSD5 symposium in Toronto (2016), the
two partners presented the first version of the
toolkit and assessed its fit for purpose during the
conference workshop.
Since then, the original authors collaborated with
Peter Jones (Systemic Design Association) and
Alex Ryan (MaRS Discovery District) for continued
development of the toolkit towards a mature
version, ready for use.
39
Kristel Van Ael,
Namahn
Philippe Vandenbroeck,
Shiftn
Alex Ryan,
Mars Solutions Lab
Peter Jones,
Systemic Design
Association
systemicdesigntoolkit.org
#systemicdesigntoolkit
SYSTEMIC
DESIGN
TOOLKIT
