The Network Garden

One of the benefits of systems thinking is that it focuses us on specificity…specific desired outcomes, core stakeholders, jobs to be done, the steps to getting there, and the constraints that bound the field of play.

Critically, because such systems generate lots of data about users and usage patterns, we can:

1. Codify key measures
2. Set targets for those measures
3. Test what works well and what does not
4. Assess areas that are primary vs. ancillary to the task at hand
5. Iterate, fine tune and polish

Optimizing is about deciding where to do MORE, where to do LESS and where to do DIFFERENT, so we can sharpen the path and user experience relative to the desired goal.

As much as anything, Optimizing is about deciding what NOT to do, since optimization is at its core about separating the wheat from the chaff.

When done right, such systems make it easy to “Seed, Select and Amplify,” whereby the goal is to test lots of low cost idea “seeds,” select the winner(s), cast aside the losers, and amplify (optimize) and iterate to the desired end state.

One of my favorite books on the topic of optimization and process is, ‘The Checklist Manifesto’ by Atul Gawande, a trauma surgeon, who compellingly demonstrates how the simple checklist can drive systematic, repeatable process, and act as the conduit to continuous improvement.