Soft System Methodology

What is the soft system methodology

Well, this is a qualitative approach that applies system thinking to otherwise non-systemic situations

The process begins by investigating the problem and then developing what's known as a rich picture

And this is kind of a diagram, if you will, that includes the boundary structure, information flows, communication channels

and other human activity systems that exist within the situation or scenario

At, okay? From there, you can go about defining the key systems that exist within this scenario

that you're identifying because this way of thinking says that everything is made up a combination

of interactive activities that make up a system. So you identify the players, the customer

the actor, the reformation process that you would use to address any of the individual

activity chains, the worldview or how it's how the situation at least

large is seen by external and internal stakeholders, the owner of the project, and any

environmental constraints associated therewith Then you go into developing a conceptual model for the overall system as it exists within this rich diagram You try as you can to incorporate formal system concepts into this diagram because once again

this is a loosely based structure which is highly dependent on individuals within an organized function or system

So you're trying to identify what would otherwise be procedural steps into a typically non-procedural type of system

Okay. So try to think outside the box and use any other system thinking approaches that will allow you to do this

From there, you'll compare any conceptual model that you've come up with to this initial rich picture that you've given

Okay. then you'll identify any feasible and desired changes to how these systemic pieces interact together

and then you'll take actions to improve any interactivity among them to make the system itself better as a whole

So this, in a word, is the soft system methodology that seeks to apply systems thinking to an otherwise non-systemic, human-based, human-centric scenario

Thank you