Wednesday, September 9

How to Build Systems Thinking, an Essential Skill in the AI Era | XPLORED

Wednesday, September 9

How to Build Systems Thinking, an Essential Skill in the AI Era

How to Build Systems Thinking, an Essential Skill in the AI Era — Image source: Medium · Maryam

1. Look at the problem one step more broadly

Before building a feature, first check the context of the problem you are trying to solve.

Check assumptions and priorities
- Ask what is being taken for granted and whether it is a problem important to customers and the business.
Check scalability
- Look at whether it is a solution that can be used by other products or teams.
- Do not stop at questions; decide on an approach and then put it into action.

2. Connect my work to the performance of the entire organization

Look at how my goals fit together with the goals of other teams.

View work from a leader's perspective
- Check how my work helps a leader's decisions and the work of other teams such as product, technology, and marketing.
Create deliverables that are easy to use together
- Design them so colleagues can easily understand and reuse them.
- If a problem arises, share the cause and improvement points rather than blame, and connect them to the organization's learning.

3. Turn recurring problems into a reusable foundation

Find patterns that repeat across multiple tasks and organize them into common components.

Expand individual solutions into a shareable structure
- Instead of creating something new every time, prepare common functions and modules and use them as a starting point for the next task.
Apply a design system perspective
- Connect components, templates, and expression rules beyond a single screen.
- Focus on maintaining a consistent user experience across multiple products and touchpoints.

4. Learn adjacent areas based on expertise

Without staying fixed to familiar tools and roles, expand the skills needed according to the problem.

A habit of learning quickly
- Learn technologies or tasks that are adjacent to your area of expertise to improve your understanding of collaboration.
Flexibility to change methods
- Check whether the tool you like to use is still appropriate now.
- Adjust your approach when role boundaries blur or requirements change.