Systems Thinking: A Notion at Work: Speaker August Bradley

I came across this fascinating talk by August Bradley. I was impressed with his utilization of Notion.so, and review involving ‘Systems Thinking.’ I will embed the video in this post, but extrapolate some key points and my thoughts on the subject discussed.

You can jump into the video involving the following if not interested in watching the full 45 minutes. I have created short links within the video below.

Systems Thinking Talk
Overview of August’s Notion Setup
Questions and Answers

Systems Thinking

August covers the idea of Systems Thinking. This concept is to not only reduce complicated systems into single processes in order to review but start to review these individual components as a whole. He uses the analogy of the individual parts of a vehicle can be reviewed, but it will not provide the overall full system usage. What I think of is the motto, ‘not seeing the forest from the tree’s’.

August comments systems thinking is a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system’s constituent parts interrelate and how systems work overtime and within the context of larger systems. Essentially, a look at the smaller system in how it affects the larger system.

Applying this concept, one can begin to see patterns and bottlenecks to ensure you or the process is as efficient as possible. Michael Goodman goes further with this idea stating the following.

…systems thinking is also a sensitivity to the circular nature of the world we live in; an awareness of the role of structure in creating the conditions we face; a recognition that there are powerful laws of systems operating that we are unaware of; a realization that there are consequences to our actions that we are oblivious to.

Systems thinking is also a diagnostic tool. As in the medical field, effective treatment follows thorough diagnosis. In this sense, systems thinking is a disciplined approach for examining problems more completely and accurately before acting. It allows us to ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Systems Thinking: What, Why, When, Where, and How? by Michael Goodman

Notion Setup

Getting a peek at how others utilize Notion in the hopes to bring order to a chaotic work or personal space is fascinating. Notion is daunting at first, due to the literal ability to create your need and personalize it. I mention this in my article, The Knowledge Base. Everyone being different, the workspace in Notion will obviously differ.

What struck me is the complexity August put into his current setup. On a broad stroke he utilizes roll-ups, many smaller tables to hold content. He then created a dashboard to view those tables easily through daily monitoring, where he can see patterns and/or bottlenecks. Essentially, he is utilizing Notion as his personal system thinking application.

As an example, he provides his weight daily and workout daily. These separate tables are then embedded into another view to see how well he maintains going forward. This data he inputs daily becomes a linear view and eventually patterns. But this is only 2 of many inputs August uses. All his work and personal tasks are kept, as well as what and whom he is waiting for. This allows you to create project management for work, as well as maintaining home life. He expands this usage and with the daily inputs see patterns beyond his own personal actions.

I can see if how this may help narrow down bottlenecks such as individuals you continue to wait on or poor systems if reaction times fluctuate with 3rd party companies. I suspect the startup would take quite some time, then dedication to maintain it. However, if you were to use this one platform for all, it would definitely capture everything you need.

In summary, he maintains a regiment of inputting daily actions (keep track of all he desires), which will ultimately be used to find patterns. These patterns are first identified then evaluated to see if it can be improved or maintained. It’s a fascinating concept but depends on the user. If you neglect or input inaccuracies you will never acquire a fruitful result.

You can check out Notion for free if this online application interests you.

I will probably pull additional nuggets from this video. For now, I wanted to spotlight it.

#KnowledgeShare | Matt Cole | #infobyMattCole