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MLTC system mapping

system map

System map used during Liverpool Stage 2 workshop.

System mapping template

Overview

In the industrial design discourse, Richard Buchanan’s concept of four orders of design1 is widely accepted; any outcome of the design process can be situated in these orders and the are highly related to each other. Any designed entity, a product, a visual or a service, is part of a larger system. In a world where many technologies are connected to each other, the level of complexity of these systems increases.2 Mapping these systems is crucial to improve services or products associated with the system. More important the map can guide the stakeholders to identifying meaningful intervention points.

Public advisor, Terry, shares his perspective on the System maps below:

Application & use

The development process of the system map began from two different points, one reference was Meadow’s leverage points to intervene a system3, the other point was based on actor maps about health systems.

The idea is to combine these two different approaches: showing the actors and relations between these and allowing to map of intervention points with their impact on the overall system.

The twelve leverage points of Meadows were too specific to be able to map during interviews with both people with lived experience and health professionals. Simplified versions45 of the concept were reviewed to adapt the leverage points for a health system. The leverage points were divided into four categories: Assets and Parameters, Processes and Relationships, Structure and Organisation, Mindsets and Values. The first category, being the easiest to intervene in but with the least impact, and the last category being the most difficult to intervene in but with the most impact.

Results & insights

The developed system maps were utilised to understand people’s understanding of the system and their opinions on where and how to intervene in the system. The intensified internet points were, in many cases, related to each other on the map. The system maps were used to discuss and identify the most impactful and realistic projects to develop for a better health system.

References

  1. Buchanan, R. (2001). Design research and the new learning. Design Issues 17.4. pp. 3-23. ↩

  2. Jones, P. & Van Ael, K. (2022). Design Journeys through Complex Systems: Practice Tools for Systemic Design. BIS Publishers. ↩

  3. Meadows, D. (1999). Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. The Sustainability Institute. https://donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Leverage_Points.pdf ↩

  4. Blake, C. et al. (2024). Participatory systems mapping for population health research, policy and practice: guidance on method choice and design. University of Glasgow. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/316563/6/Guidance%20document.pdf ↩

  5. Abson, D.J., Fischer, J., Leventon, J. et al. (2017). Leverage points for sustainability transformation. Ambio 46. Pp. 30–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0800-y ↩