3 ms·

This is interesting. Do you have a reading list or any good resources on the topic?

jonsen 13y ago
I don't really know what to recommend. Maybe An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald M. Weinberg is a good starting point for a CS-person. "Education is what remains when what has been learned has been forgotten", Skinner, I believe. Well what is education then? I believe it is the holistic coherent state of mind which hoovers above individual subjects. But nobody tells you how to acquire that. In school we are only taught separate subjects. Nobody guides us in making a coherent hole of it. So that we can if not fully understand then at least recognize and respect the complexity and dynamics everywhere in the world around us.
petercooper 13y ago
I'm currently doing a course on systems thinking for an MSc in software engineering and our main text book is Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World by Ray Ison. Oddly it has almost nothing to do with climate change but I'm finding it a pretty good primer to systemic inquiry and the terminology involved. I'm also finding learning about systems practice is making a huge impact on how I consider my work and my role within it. My goal in taking the MSc was to eventually become a "real" engineer and I'm finding systems to be a hugely important first step with that.
- ridicter 13y ago
  This book looks fascinating! Thanks for mentioning it. (I do a lot of climate change related activism, and I'm always on the lookout for resources like these!)
calinet6 13y ago
As it relates to production process, and management, with the goal of quality: seek out W. Edwards Deming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming. It's not terribly accessible, but it is pragmatic and wise. Highly recommend his book Out of the Crisis, in which he describes the ideas he put in place to pull Japan out of the post WWII recession and turn them into an economic power respected for quality.
enos_feedler 13y ago
I'll be sure to check all of these out. Thanks!

I don't really know what to recommend. Maybe An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald M. Weinberg is a good starting point for a CS-person. "Education is what remains when what has been learned has been forgotten", Skinner, I believe. Well what is education then? I believe it is the holistic coherent state of mind which hoovers above individual subjects. But nobody tells you how to acquire that. In school we are only taught separate subjects. Nobody guides us in making a coherent hole of it. So that we can if not fully understand then at least recognize and respect the complexity and dynamics everywhere in the world around us.

petercooper 13y ago

I'm currently doing a course on systems thinking for an MSc in software engineering and our main text book is Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World by Ray Ison. Oddly it has almost nothing to do with climate change but I'm finding it a pretty good primer to systemic inquiry and the terminology involved. I'm also finding learning about systems practice is making a huge impact on how I consider my work and my role within it. My goal in taking the MSc was to eventually become a "real" engineer and I'm finding systems to be a hugely important first step with that.

ridicter 13y ago
This book looks fascinating! Thanks for mentioning it. (I do a lot of climate change related activism, and I'm always on the lookout for resources like these!)

calinet6 13y ago

As it relates to production process, and management, with the goal of quality: seek out W. Edwards Deming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming. It's not terribly accessible, but it is pragmatic and wise. Highly recommend his book Out of the Crisis, in which he describes the ideas he put in place to pull Japan out of the post WWII recession and turn them into an economic power respected for quality.

enos_feedler 13y ago

I'll be sure to check all of these out. Thanks!