The Whole System Mapping design method was created in 2010 for the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop. Since then it has been used by companies and taught at over a dozen universities around the world, including UC Berkeley, UT Austin, University of Calgary, Hongik University in Korea, Indian Institute of Science, and several Indian Institutes of Technology.
The goal: Systems thinking is widely known to be vital for sustainability strategy, but it is difficult. This method simplifies it and makes it more actionable. In addition, it integrates LCA or other metrics into early-stage design, drives ideation to be more thorough and more radical, and is a visual collaboration tool.
It is a four-step process:
1. Visually map the product’s (or service’s) system.
2. Use estimated life cycle assessment (LCA) or other quantitative metric to set sustainability priorities, then balance with business or other priorities.
3. Brainstorm on the system map you created, with ideas for every node and ideas that eliminate nodes .
4. Choose winning ideas based on your priorities and your estimates of each new idea’s performance.
Usage
This method is useful when the problem is to improve a system’s overall sustainability and effectiveness. Whole-systems thinking is a useful way to see interconnections between issues that affect the system overall and allows one solution to be leveraged to create much more. Sustainability includes designing radical efficiency of a product or a service. Therefore, instead of isolating parts, designers should think of the system as a whole. Therefore, whole-systems thinking helps improve sustainability and overall effectiveness of a product or a service.
Benefits
- Improves product sustainability and innovation together; many practitioners report it driving cost savings.
- Easy to understand, but more complex tools and methods can add to it.
- Makes abstract systems thinking actionable.
- Builds team communication and collaboration.
- Can be implemented in different levels of complexity by choosing the depth and breadth of the system map.
- Connects LCA or other analyses with creative solutions and decision-making.
Limitations/Risks
- LCA takes time & effort; perhaps use existing LCAs instead.
- Does not account for system feedback loops as described here, though system dynamics tools can be added to its implementation.