Verdict: Not recommended

I was initially excited to read this book on systems thinking.

Generative AI is making many tasks simpler and obsolete. How do we think about software when familiar ways change?

Systems thinking evolved out of academia. The prominent writers that this book references are operations research pioneer Russell L. Ackhoff, who applied systems thinking in management; Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline), who applied it to learning organizations; and Donella Meadows (Dancing with Systems), who applied it to environmental sustainability.

For software engineering, Ms Montalion’s book only partially answers how systems thinking applies:

A system is a group of interrelated hardware, software, people, organization(s), and other elements that interact and/or interdepend to serve a shared purpose.

This is re-emphasized in other parts which affirm that “systems are sociotechnical”.

The book divides into four parts: ‘A System of Thinking’, ‘You Are a System of Thinking’, ‘We Are a System of Thinking’, and ‘Designing a System of Thinking’.

The biggest difficulty that I have with the book is that it mixes the rational with the spiritual. Chapter 4 on self-awareness suggests meditation. Chapter 5 (‘Replace reacting with responding’) gives advice on dealing with others (don’t respond when hungry, angry, lonely, or tired). Stephen Covey covered such questions comprehensively in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

In some places, the book reflects a belief system (“Systems are not fully controllable and unpredictable”) that I cannot agree with from an engineering perspective. It is our job to make systems controllable and predictable.

The most ‘meat’ in terms of thinking I found in chapter 7, which shows how to craft a clear and cogent case of proposition.

In summary, the book is somewhat elusive. Fundamentals of Software Architecture just came out in its second edition and answers many related questions.

Website: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/learning-systems-thinking/9781098151324/