Customer Reviews

Soft Systems Methodology: Conceptual Model Building and Its Contribution

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Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is an offshoot of systems thinking and has its roots in Peter Checkland's seminal 1981 book, "Systems Thinking, Systems Practice" (now out of print). This book shows how to apply SSM to the problem sets for which it was designed: the unpredictable behavior of human actions, which are often counter to the logic we apply to "hard" problems such as computer systems behavior and other systems that follow predictable laws of physics.

As a consultant who aligns information systems to business processes this book provided me with a streamlined approach to dealing with the human factor, especially organizational politics and resistance to change - both of which I routinely deal with. The approach is reasonably straightforward, and involves the following steps:

- Frame the problem and surrounding situation
- Use 'rich pictures' portray the situation. A 'rich picture' is an informal rendering, and should capture issues and thinking, systems and interactions.
- Develop a root definitions and perspectives from which to view the situation (Clients, Actors, Transformations, World-view and Environment). A 'root definition' is a process that transforms an input into an output - a typical process flow.
- Build a conceptual model of what the system to remedy the problem or situation needs to accomplish. The basis of the conceptual model is human activity.
- Compare the model to the ideal, examine alternatives and select the best option.
- Design and implement the system or solution.

The approach taken by the author is to provide the knowledge needed to employ SSM in a sequence of chapters that lead you through models and methodology, the principles of human activity modeling, system selection, business process reengineering issues, the consensus primary task model, the relationships to training and HR, and generic model building.

Consensus primary task model (CPTM) is a key element of the approach in this book and is crucial to successfully employing SSM, which, after all, is designed to deal with the ambiguities of people. The CPTM is an aggregation of the conceptual models, which results in a 'strawman' model that is used to build consensus. From this evolves into the agreed upon model and approach.

The key differences between the usual 'committee' approach and SSM are the structure and framework, ensuring that viewpoints are systematically examined, and the emphasis on consensus instead of compromise. While the book makes SSM appear to be easy, which is a function of the author's clear writing, employing it in the real world requires training and discipline. It's especially well suited to organizational change management projects as well as strategic planning.