techniques-systems-thinking

Understand problems as interconnected systems with feedback loops and emergent behavior. Use when: (1) Asked to understand systemic causes, map feedback loops, or analyze interconnected effects, (2) When dealing with complex problems, unintended consequences, organizational issues, or when simple solutions keep failing, (3) When the same problem recurs despite multiple attempted fixes, (4) When previous solutions created unexpected side effects or worsened other aspects, (5) When solutions address surface issues without examining underlying structure and feedback loops, (6) When simple interventions fail or produce temporary results, (7) When individual incentives misalign with desired system outcomes, (8) Before implementing solutions to organizational, cultural, or behavioral problems, (9) When the problem involves multiple interconnected components requiring identification of intervention points, (10) When delays separate cause from effect and obscure causal relationships, (11) For problems where linear cause-effect thinking has not produced lasting solutions