Practice Area
Mental Model Design
Design Better Mental Models
Building explicit representations of system behavior to support shared understanding.
domain > Thinking Systems
Think in Systems
Seeing patterns, interdependencies, and feedback loops to make better decisions in complex, dynamic environments.
Related Practice Areas
Explore related thinking systems salons that help you think in systems.
Practice Area
Metacognition
Know Thy Own Thinking
Awareness of your own thinking, feeling and sensing patterns.
Practice Area
Modes of Cognition
Adopt Multiple Ways of Knowing
Frameworks for understanding how people think — analytical, intuitive, embodied, narrative — and designing systems that draw on them.
Understand Thinking Systems
Think in Systems
Thinking systems is the ability to perceive structure beneath events—to see how patterns, relationships, and feedback loops shape what happens over time.
Most people experience systems as a series of disconnected moments: problems appear, decisions are made, outcomes follow. But systems thinking reveals that these moments are not isolated—they are expressions of underlying structure.
When this capability is present, people move beyond reacting to events. They begin to understand how actions propagate, how consequences emerge, and how small changes in structure can create large shifts in behavior.
This domain integrates the practices of modeling, reflection, and perspective-taking that make system behavior visible—and therefore changeable.
Why Learning Systems Thinking is Essential in Tech
This interview is worth watching just for the brilliant opening that Henry made! And throughout, he frames the subject really well.
Epistemic Humility and Control of the Frame
Knowledge is always partial and emerges between people. When conversations shift from shared understanding to control of the frame, knowledge flow breaks—and better arguments won’t fix it.
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Ways to Practice
Use activities to experience the concept rather than only reading about it.
We do not experience reality directly. We experience interpretations of reality.
Every person carries mental models — internal assumptions, stories, causal explanations, expectations, categories, and frameworks that help them navigate the world.
Mental models are necessary. Without them, reality would feel overwhelming.
But mental models are also incomplete.
We are so tangled in doing and efficiency …we forget to think. Ideas come and go before we can explore them. Create a space where you can easily capture ideas as they occur to you.
“You can’t do much thinking with your bare brain.”
“Remember, always, that everything you know, and everything everyone knows, is only a model. Get your model out there where it can be viewed. Invite others to challenge your assumptions and add their own.”
“Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines.”
Companions
Resources and Experts
Books, talks, and people that deepen the concept and widen the conversation.
Thinking in Bets
Annie Duke
A practical exploration of decision-making under uncertainty that reframes thinking as probabilistic, adaptive, and continually open to revision.
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Thinking in Systems
Donella H. Meadows
An accessible introduction to systems thinking that reveals how feedback loops, delays, structures, and mental models shape the behavior of complex systems over time.
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Language
Terms to Know
A few words that help the domain hold together.
Mental Models
Internal representations of how a system works, used to interpret and predict behavior.
Sensemaking
How people interpret signals, construct meaning, and act within uncertainty.
Metacognition
Awareness of one’s own thinking processes, including assumptions, biases, and reasoning patterns.
