Weinberg - An Introduction to General Systems Thinking: Systems Thinking, no. 1

An Introduction to General SystemsThinking

SILVER ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Gerald M.Weinberg

SMASHWORDS EDITION

PUBLISHED BY:

Gerald M. Weinberg on Smashwords

An Introduction to General SystemsThinking

Copyright 2011 by Gerald M. Weinberg

Dear Reader: Even with many layers of editing,mistakes can slip through, alas. But, together, we can eradicatethe nasty nuisances. If you encounter typos or errors in this book,please send them to me at: <> Thank you! - JerryWeinberg

All rights reserved. Without limiting therights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without theprior written permission of both the copyright owner and the abovepublisher of this book.

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person youshare it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should returnto Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the author's work.

Contents

Boys and young men acquire readily the moralsentiments of their social milieu, whatever these sentiments maybe. The boy who has been taught at home that it is wicked to swear,easily loses this belief when he finds that his schoolfellows whomhe most admires are addicted to blasphemy. - Bertrand Russell

To Ross Ashby, Kenneth Boulding, and AnatolRapoport who got me addicted to blasphemy.

Trademark credits: All trade and product,names are either trademarks, registered trademarks, or servicemarks of their respective companies, and are the property of theirrespective holders and should be treated as such.

The significant problems we face cannot be solved atthe same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein

For as long as I can remember, I've beeninterested in thinking. I started writing this book about thinkingin 1961, worked on it for fourteen years, and finally published itin 1975. Since that time, I've received hundreds of letters andreviews of the book. Most of them confirm that the book has helpedreaders improve their thinkingwhich delighted me. But, becausewriting the book helped me with my thinking, I wasn'tsurprised.

I'm not a person who saves stuff. I couldn'tfind all the fine reviews this book received when it first appearedall those years ago, nor can I find all those letters. So, Ipuzzled over how I was going to write this Preface.

Well, most thinking, even general systemsthinking, can sometimes use a little luck. I took a break todownload my e-mail, and as luck would have it, I got one of thoseflattering letters, which read, in part:

My name is Wayne Johnson, and I am a veterinarianworking as a technical consultant in South China.... I discoveredAn Introduction to General Systems Thinking quite by accident, orserendipitously, depending upon one's point of view, about tenyears ago, while looking for basic information to assist me with mygrowth model project. I should tell you that was one of the mostinfluential books I have ever read. The first copy I finally had toreturn to the university library, and after much difficulty I wasable to convince some bookseller to order me a copy of my own.

Over the years, I've never grown tired ofgetting letters from halfway around the world (South China) from aprofessional in a field I never dreamed of influencing (veterinarymedicine) saying this book "was one of the most influential books Ihave ever read."

I had, however, grown tired of the way thisbook had been handled in recent years. Apparently, my originalpublisher's models didn't include books that stayed current and indemand for a quarter-century. As a result, a series of automaticcost-of-living price increases had stuck the book with anunreasonably high price, and the reprinting algorithms simplyfailed to keep the book in stockeven after more than twentyprintings. Used copies were sold at a premium, and my small reservestock dwindled, so I decided to gain control of the book and put itin the hands of a more understanding publisher, Dorset. HousePublishing.

And now, a few years later, revolutionarytechnology has led me to produce another editionthis eBookedition. Give that this book has a world-wide audience, I felt itshould be more readily obtainable world-wideand eBooks made thatpossible. The initial price is lower, making the book moreaccessible to less fortunate countries than the USA. More thanthat, there are no shipping charges and customs duties, which oftenmore than doubled the price. And, perhaps even more important, it'smuch harder for certain countries to seize the book and prevent itfrom reaching its intended destination. It seems there aregovernments in the world that would prefer their citizens not toimprove the very thinking that established those governments in thefirst place.

When I set out to write An Introduction toGeneral Systems Thinking, I had already written a half-dozen bookson thinkingbut all in the context of thinking about computerprogramming. I had been doing this long enough to realize thatcomputer languages changed a whole lot faster than people changed,so I decided to leave the programming language business to othersand to concentrate on more general principles of thinking. As aresult, I first published The Psychology of Computer Programmingand then this book. Now, more than a generation later, both booksare still around, quietly doing their work. My work.

I suppose not many people have the experienceof reading their own work more than a quarter-century later, butnow that I've done it twice, I find myself reflecting on what isdifferent after all this time:

I was definitely younger then, or so it seemsnow. At the time, I felt rather mature and capable. I wonder if I'dhave the chutzpah to start on such ambitious works today.

I know a great deal more now, from many moreexperiences, but my deepest interests have not changed. I'm stillutterly fascinated by the human mind and its vast rainbow ofpossibilities. I haven't changed my conviction that most peopledon't think nearly as well as they could, had they been taught someprinciples of thinking.

My writing style has changed, and I find thatsome of my ancient words sound a bit quaint. For example, sincepublishing these books, and prompted by some feedback from readers,I have consciously eliminated sexist language from my writing. I'mhappy I did. When I read authors who say that non-sexist languageis too "awkward," I think that says more about them than they maywish to reveal. In this edition, I have changed as much of thissexist language as I could detect.

My recent writing speaks more of "I" than of"we" or "it." These are, after all, my thoughts, for better orworse, and I'm writing about thinking and about thinkers. So, whenthese indirect forms hide the thinker behind the thought, they do adisservice to my readers, who are, after all, interested in thesubject of thinking. I hope that current readers will forgive thisfolly of my youthand perhaps gain some practice at seeing "the manbehind the curtain" of every thinking process. As a result of agreat deal of intentional study, I do feel I know much more todayabout personal differences in thinking styledrawing on models suchas those of my mentors, Virginia Satir and Anatol Rapoport; theMyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); and Neurolinguistic Programming(NLP). Such models are like delicious frosting on this generalsystems cake. As a result of all these years of consulting, I nowknow more about applying these general principles to more specificsituations. I've tried to capture this knowledge in my books aboutsoftware management, systems analysis, problem definition,interpersonal systems, consulting, and systems design. And now,some years later, my fiction.