Managers are not confronted with problems which are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consists of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes … Managers do not solve problems, they manage messes.

- Russell Ackoff, Operations Theorist

If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves … There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.

- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Another way of putting it is that mental models are at the root of the results we are getting. The models are not reality. They are an abstraction of reality that must be improved to get better results.

Sometimes the best way to organize your systems is to tweak the settings to simplify the configuration. Macworld has some tips for some OSX system settings to make your Mac work better. Examples:

To get the most value out of your software investment it is sometimes worthwhile to do a quick tour of the settings to see if you can optimize them to better support your work flows.

MenuBar

Every once in a while check the items you have in the menuBar to confirm they are all being used regularly. You may want to remove them if they aren’t something you use often.

Applications

Scan through your applications periodically to see if there are any that should be deleted.

Getting rid of visual and mental clutter will help you focus and avoid wasting time on items you aren’t getting value from.

Hopefully the overview has gotten your interest to learn more and stimulated some comments of your own. Let’s discuss.

reference 1

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Based on a book by Glen Sharp “Systems for the real world”, Beautiful Books Press.

yet another reference

Simply thinking about the myriad systems in everyday life tends to create a focus on cause and effect that can be very constructive. Recognizing that many different systems are at work that most of the time work flawlessly despite their complexity encourages optimism. When glitches do happen it is important to understand that most of the system is probably still working correctly and what is needed is to determine how the subsystem that has failed can be fixed. I like to think of this as the engineer’s mindset, which is very beneficial to problem solving.

Sam has very generously made the first three chapters of his ebook available for free on his web site.