Ways of observing

The Nine Ways of Observing come from The Earth Path, a book by Starhawk.

I have used this tool in all my designs. I find that good, thoughtful, long observation is key to making good, thoughtful and effective designs.

• I wonder...

  • Looking at the system with childlike amazement. Fostering an open mind and leaving behind fixed ideas about what the system is and why it does (not) what it does (not).

• Observing energy

  • Energy is the thing that makes any system come alive.

    "Labour without energy is a corpse, and capital without energy is a sculpture." -- Steve Keen

• Observing flow

  • Flow shows how matter and information move around a system. It shows mayor sub-systems and connections between them. Loops create feedback, both positive (reinforcing) and negative (stabilizing)

• Observing communities

  • Communities reveal the different elements of the system. Communities can be subsystems of a system, they can also point to interactions between the system and its surroundings.

• Observing patterns

  • Patterns show us the ways a system solves problems. Use the tool Thinking in Patterns

• Observing edges

  • Edges show potential interfaces to different systems

• Observing limits

  • Limits show where the system can not go, which area's are unreachable

• Observing from stillness

  • What is system's impact on the observer, it asks us to look at how and why we participate in the system, why we may want to change it

• Observing past & future

  • Past and future asks us to look at the evolution of the system as a whole. Where does the system tend to move towards as a general direction?

Thinking in terms of systems, these different aspects cover things all systems have in common.

This list of different ways of observing invite me to take a detailed look at the different aspects of the system I'm studying. It helps me avoid blind spots because the tool reminds me to cover all these aspects. Every aspect is important in its own way. Without understanding, we're flying blind.