For those intrigued by Systems Thinking but want to explore it in context of startups (or business in general), consider reading Scaling Lean by Ash Maurya [1].

For those intrigued by Systems Thinking but want to explore it in context of startups (or business in general), consider reading Scaling Lean by Ash Maurya [1]. The whole Customer Factory [2] is based on a causal loop diagram of McClure's Pirate Metrics (AARRR); Ash also incorporates a lot of Theory of Constraints into the book. Highly recommended. Systems Thinking was also part of Intel's culture under Andrew Grove (at least at the leadership level, from what I can tell). You can see evidence of that in his super-acclaimed book, High Output Management [3], especially the first couple of chapters (though he doesn't refer to it directly). Rich Jolly, another executive @ Intel, actually has a PhD in Systems Science and also wrote a book, Systems Thinking for Business [4], although it's definitely a bit more advanced and more theoretical than the others listed here. And, I whole-heartedly agree - Meadows' book is simply an AMAZING treatise of Systems Thinking. It's a great place to start regardless of your background (the beauty of ST is that it is applicable to a broad range of fields and disciplines). As an aside, does anyone know of any good/free/open source tools for drawing causal loop diagrams, or better yet, running simulations? [1] https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Lean-Mastering-Metrics-Startup/dp/1101980524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470183661&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Lean-Mastering-Metrics-Startu... [2] https://leanstack.com/customer-factory-blueprint/ https://leanstack.com/customer-factory-blueprint/ [3] https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove-ebook/dp/0394532341/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1470183992&sr=8-4 https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove-e... [4] https://www.amazon.com/Systems-Thinking-Business-Capitalize-Structures/dp/0692353348/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1470184395&sr=8-5 https://www.amazon.com/Systems-Thinking-Business-Capitalize-...