Shifting Mindsets for Managing Complexity

Peter JonesGovernance, Social Systems Design, Systemic Design

A “Macro” Argument – The Paradigm Shift happening The era of so-called New Public Management is slowly shifting. NPM has seen a significant, worldwide trend in public sector governance, has held the current paradigm since at least 1991, and arguably has survived, or absorbed several emerging movements in public management. Yet I see no academic agreement on what comes next. Recent developments in public management have included sectoral innovation (e.g. De Vries, et al., 2018) and relational public services (Complexity Outcomes, 2023), and these might evolve toward the practices we are calling, for now, complexity management. Yet digital governance, collaborative leadership, and e-governance are more frequently represented in the literature.  Yet these are more techniques with new management, not management innovation. We are looking for the adoption of new structural forms of management, or innovations that address the purposes of strategic leadership.  Digital governance changes the interface between stakeholders and …

Design Journeys – A Systemic Design Tourbook

Peter JonesService Design, Social Systems Design, Systemic Design

We have completed updates for a second printing of Design Journeys through Complex Systems, the first practitioner handbook for systemic design practice, based on the Systemic Design Toolkit. The tools are largely the same, with some updated cases or images. We have edited throughout to improve clarity, especially for the instructions for use of the tools, some of which were completely new in 2022 when BIS Publishers printed the first run. The feature image now shows our first translation, a Japanese edition translated by service design professor Masanao Takeyama of Keio University who works with the design firm ACTANT. The Japanese edition is beautifully composed and published, and with this quality of production we have a high bar set for the next translation. We are exploring translations now in Spanish, Italian, and Korean. Design Journeys was written as an accessible tourbook style, a handbook for the journeys and many destinations …

Metaplanning with Design Journeys

Peter JonesCo-Creation, Social Systems Design, Systemic Design, Systems Thinking

The Journeys are staged to help the organising team separate the goals of each stage of learning, and to structure the participation for stakeholders in a clearly defined way, with a definitive logic. The Journeys design approach is all pre-development (or implementation) and can be understood as a complete metaplanning[1] and strategic design planning process, but for complex social systems and system change intervention. A participatory design style is essential to system metaplanning because the planners will be the stakeholders and risk-bearers, those with skin-in-the-game, who will be responsible for implementation.  Therefore it’s critical they understand every step of the design planning journey. Real stakeholders invested in the outcome might be very different than the convenience-sample groups that we drum up for organizational workshops, or in the public sector invitational sessions we often convene. The five-sided figure shows a model for stakeholder sampling, based on Alexander Christakis – who defined …

Bounce Beyond – The Next Economies are Ecological

Peter JonesCultural innovation, Ecological economics, Social Systems Design

The mission of Bounce Beyond is to accelerate initiatives working to make regenerative, life-centered economies realizable at scale through examples of “next economies” communities. We call these Collaborating Next Economies Communities in Transformation (CoNECTs). Bounce Beyond is an action and learning community of CoNECTs and people with deep transformations experience. We currently sponsor and support four CoNECTs. Bioregional localization programs (e.g. South Devon Fibreshed) Emerging ecological economies (e.g. Doughnut economy projects) Industry groups (Seafood 2030) and sectors (European Healthcare) planning for systems change Large-scale SDG initiatives, at the national or regional level Our mission is to demonstrate the potential to make life-centered economies realizable at scale through exemplars of “next economies” communities. Believing that the conventional economy is a key driver of the crises we are now facing and that responding to people’s pressing need for livelihoods in ways that address the crises is critical, Bounce Beyond focuses on connecting …