Further Reading
A really good place to start which does not require any specialist knowledge is;
- Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems, a primer, Earthscan 2008, ISBN: 978-1-84407-725-0 (hb)
Influences
My key influences for systems analysis are listed below; my introduction to systems analysis was through the design of computer systems for business. Starting at Perkins Engines in Peterborough I was very fortunate to be learning about systems analysis not just from people with a programming background but also from people with an Organisation Methods background, many of these people had been coopted into the IT Department (at the time called Management Systems) and worked as systems analysts. I say fortunate because this was 1975-83, when we designed a system we designed it all - people, process and technology. This was well ahead of its time.
When I did my MBA I was again fortunate, I was able to do a dissertation on Information Systems Planning, the literature survey for that provided a useful link between my practical experiences and the theory behind systems, planing and change. Some sources that have also been very influential on my thinking, in particular the following:
- Kuhn, Thomas S: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago University Press, 1970
- Mintzberg, Henry: The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Prentice Hall, 1994
- Senge, P.M: The Fifth Discipline, the art and practice of the Learning Organisation, Doubleday, 1990
- Ward, John and Griffiths P: Strategic Planning for Information Systems, John Wiley, 1996
- Zuboff, Shoshan: In the Age of the Smart Machine, Heinemann, 1988
The following sources are getting on a bit now but the ideas are still in use.
- Peter Checkland, Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, John Wiley, 1981, ISBN; 0 471 27911 0.
This is the original text for Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and is the source for my usage The Human Activity System, which I have depicted at the highest level of abstraction that I can. According to the action research approach within soft systems the steps a practitioner should go through when intervening are;
- Enter situation considered problematical
- Express the problem situation
- Formulate root definitions of relevant systems of purposeful activity
- Build conceptual models of the systems named in the root definitions
- Compare models with real world situations
- Define possible changes which are both possible and feasible
- Take action to improve the problem situation
A key aspect of this which does not jump out from the above list is that it is important to create, from the different viewpoints encountered a consensual model. This can take some time and effort. The roles of the various participants and some key concepts that it uses are these;
- Customers - Who are the beneficiaries of the highest level business process and how does the issue affect them?
- Actors - Who is involved in the situation, who will be involved in implementing solutions and what will impact their success?
- Transformation Process - What is the transformation that lies at the heart of the system - transforming grapes into wine, transforming unsold goods into sold goods, transforming a societal need into a societal need met?
- Weltanschauung (or Worldview) - What is the big picture and what are the wider impacts of the issue?
- Owner - Who owns the process or situation being investigated and what role will they play in the solution?
- Environmental Constraints - What are the constraints and limitations that will impact the solution and its success?
Other IT systems books
I have been influenced by other works notably;
- Chris Gane and Trish Sarson, Structured Sytems Analysis, Tools and Techniques, Prentice Hall, 1979, ISBN; 0-13-854547-2.
- James Martin; Information Engineering (3 Vols, Introduction, Planning and Analysis, Design and Construction), 1989, 1990 ISBN; 0-13-464462-X, 0-13-464885-4 and 0-13-4650501-X
- Ian Graham, Object Oriented Methods, 2nd Ed.,Addison-Wesley, 1993, ISBN 0-201-59371-8
- Frederick P. Brooks Jr, The Mythical Man Month, Essays on Software Engineering, (Anniversary Ed. with new chapters), Addison-Wesley, 1995 (1975), ISBN 0-201-83595-9
- John Ward and Pat Griffiths, Strategic Planning for Information Systems, 2nd Edition, John Wiley, 1996, ISBN 0-471-96183-3
- Yan-Ping Shan and Ralph H. Earle, Enterprise Computing with Objects, from Client-Server Environments to the Internet, Addison Wesley, 1998, ISBN 0-201-325-66-7