Reading the article, this is not about systemd. Debian wants to offer a choice between systemd and something else. So they have things like systemd-shim, cgmana

Reading the article, this is not about systemd. Debian wants to offer a choice between systemd and something else. So they have things like systemd-shim, cgmanager, etc. He says he's using systemd, but while trying to figure out where his problem is, he's seeing references to systemd-shim, cgmanager and so on. Those things are not systemd, nor do you need them if you use systemd. Offering the alternative makes finding solutions to his problems more complex and confusing.