> [!summary] Progressive Summary # Structured Notes ## Definitions system - a set of things (people, cells, molecules ...) interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time. ## Chapter Summaries ### Introduction - The System Lens I like how she simplifies systems thinking: > long before we were educated in rational analysis, we all dealt with complex systems. We are complex systems-our own bodies are magnificent examples of integrated, interconnected, self-maintaining complexity. Every person we encounter, every organization, every animal, garden, tree, and forest is a complex system. We have built up intuitively, without analysis, often without words, a practical understanding of how these systems work, and how to work with them. > > Modern systems theory, bound up with computers and equations, hides the fact that it traffics in truths known at some level by everyone. It is often possible, therefore, to make a direct translation from systems jargon to traditional wisdom. > > "Because of feedback delays within complex systems, by the time a problem becomes apparent it may be unnecessarily difficult to solve." - *A stitch in time saves nine.* # Quotes