Finding Solutions to Complex Problems by Creating and Engaging Complex
James B. Smethurst and Gail Taylor
[Editor's Note: The philosophy and
procedures of PatchWorks Designs were developed by Matt Taylor.]
The most challenging aspect of complex
adaptive systems is that even though the systems function beautifully,
no single part of the system is in control. Which tree, for example, runs
the forest? Which is the head neuron in the brain? How is the "boss
fish" selected in a tidal pool? These questions are, of course, absurd.
The tree has no sense of "forest". The neuron does not know
that such a thing as a "brain" exists. As part of the system,
the individual organism does not come equipped to see or understand the
system as a whole.
In more and more areas, we as individuals, as communities and as organizations
are recognizing that we exist as individual organisms in complex systems.
Industries, markets, economies, and communities
of practice that span the globe have become tied to our daily existence
through technology and increasing demands on us for innovation and change.
Who owns pollution? How can we change laws designed for industry into
laws that help an economy based on networks and Enterprises of One? How
does the system of education change?
As individual organisms (whose scale ranges from a human being to a multi-national
corporation), we operate WITHIN overlapping complex systems. As we become
aware of these systems, we also want to change them and our roles in them.
Changes in one part of a system, however, can cause chaotic, unanticipated
changes in other parts of the system: the classic example is that of a
flap of a butterfly's wings causing weather changes across the globe.
Therefore responsible change--designed system-wide change--requires being
able to see and understand the whole system. Therefore we begin to explore,
as individuals, the nature of the systems we are tied up in so that we
can influence systems without destroying them accidentally. We allocate
resources (time, energy, people, funds, technology) to research the larger
systems so that our lives can be made easier and simpler. What we cannot
see, however, is the entirety of the systems we are involved in. Because
we are part of the system, we can only understand it from our own vantage
point, and we can therefore only grasp small pieces of the complexity.
So we are each exploring our own microcosms of the vast networks in which
we operate, and individually, we are learning at a phenomenal rate, yet
very rarely are sharing what we learn. Organisms can be organized into
patches that share their learnings and research resources. The patches
can be woven together to create a quilt that unites vantage points and
learnings from an entire web of organisms who are coming to terms with
the same complex systems. As a quilt, then, the organisms in a complex
system can even coordinate themselves to design strategic change.
PatchWorks Designs brings together the organisms and fragments of knowledge
in a complex system, and using the Design-Build-Use way of working, facilitates
a systems integration dialogue in a compressed period of time. PatchWorks
Designs creates a "Game", an infinite
game, that allows all players to succeed by gaining deeper insight
into their particular vantage point and by realizing how their vantage
point combines with others to create a new and very valuable framework
for themselves and for society as a whole. Using MG Taylor's principles
and methodologies of design, PatchWorks Designs organizes thousands of
individuals from widely diverse organizations into Patches and facilitates
those Patches through an intense collaborative design process.
Each Game is proposed by either MG Taylor or by an outside sponsor who
has an interest in solving a complex problem. Investors of any size are
then invited to contribute resources to the Game: the sponsor organization
usually supports a large portion of the cost of the game, but all of the
players in the Game are also investors. Organizations of all kinds and
sizes will play the same Game because the vantage points of non-profits,
multi-nationals, government organizations and enterprises of one all weave
together to form the framework for solutions. (Players for a particular
Game will either come from non-competitive fields, or will agree to co-opetition
before the Game begins.) Investing organizations also select members of
their organization (or others) to be players in the Game, the level of
investment determining the number of players that the organization can
sponsor. By investing any amount, however, players will gain access to
the resources of all of the other players, including finances several
orders of magnitude greater than their investment and the Intellectual
Capital of hundreds of organizations.
PatchWorks Designs is system integration and facilitation. MG Taylor
organizes the Patches (groups) in which individuals play the Game, and
then designs the process the Patches will use to create
and dissolve their complex problem (see the rules of Patch
Theory). The Game takes place in MG Taylor's knOwhere Stores located
throughout the country and capitalizes on the full range of services that
the knOwhere Stores offer:
|Weak Signal® Research
||Tools for scanning the environments for emergent trends in business,
society or technology
||Explorations of the MG Taylor processes, philosophy and modeling
||Strategic planning for individuals and families
||Events to help individuals become proficient with skills for the
Knowledge Economy. Includes: modeling, visual representation of information,
information management, facilitation, documentation.
||Three-day design events with 30 to 100 participants
||Participants bring the perspectives of different authors to bear
on a specific subject in a facilitated session
|Small Team Facilitation
||Design work facilitated and documented in knOwhere environments
|WAWD Team Sessions
||Access to experts from across the MG Taylor ValueWeb community
|Kiosks and Displays
||Access to virtual and physical displays of vast amounts of information
in knOwhere Stores
||On-line discussion and design
||Groups simultaneously work on the same issue in different knOwhere
Stores across the country
|Analysis and Research
||Provided by MG Taylor's network of Knowledge Workers
|Publication on the World Wide Web
||Documentation and work products published on the Internet
||Challenging and interactive surveys designed to engage participants
in new ways of thinking about the subject at hand
|Formal Polling Methods
||Testing the assumptions and beliefs of the network
|Organization of Patches
||MG Taylor (in collaboration with the sponsor) designs the make-up
of the Patches and the boundaries of the Game
The knOwhere Stores provide the Environment
in which true collaborative design can occur, as well as Knowledge
Management and management of the 7
In addition to the final products created for each investor, each Game
generates a book that documents and tells the story of Game, the players
and the design process. Copies of the book are provided to each of the
players, and are also sold through the knOwhere Stores. These books are
exciting stories of groundbreaking work in some of the most complex and
challenging areas of society today.
PatchWorks Designs offers individuals, corporations, governments, unions
and communities an opportunity for genuine, real-time change across industries,
ValueWeb communities, politics and frames of reference. Individual organisms
cannot change or hope to understand complex systems, but by using the
very qualities of complexity that confound us to design solutions, networks
of organisms can see whole systems and shift their direction.
A PatchWorks Designs Game gives each player access to an entire web of
experts, learners, facilitators, investors, customers, and producers who
are all brought together by a shared interest. This network represents
more vantage points and expertise than any single organization could hope
to bring to bear on its internal issues. By investing in a Game, an organization
gains access to a huge, organized body of knowledge that it can leverage
to solve problems and to forge relationships that it can use well beyond
the duration of the Game itself.
The most powerful resource today is knowledge. Learning to find, share,
and use knowledge is the vital task of successful organizations. PatchWorks
Designs creates the field in which knowledge about a particular issue
abounds. What better place to play a Game?
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