The Project in the SuperSystem

 

Structuring a CSD effort as a project is important.  It creates an organization in which the participants are dedicated and committed to finding a good solution to the issue at hand in an expeditious manner.  It provides focus on all the pertinent factors and excludes distracting irrelevancies.

Viewing the project as an active organized entity embedded in an active and interacting context is a helpful tool for project planning and execution.  We call that view the SuperSystem.  On this branch we’ll first look at the SuperSystem as a whole, and then delve more deeply into its parts as we address Planning.

The SuperSystem

The SuperSystem is the top-system-level view of all the major parts that make up a CSD project.  Most of those parts are themselves systems, so the SuperSystem is a system of systems.

The SuperSystem is useful, both for planning and carrying out a project.  For planning it is a tool that helps identify the events, from small to large, that need to be anticipated for inclusion in the planning.  Then, in the midst of a project when events occur that need a response, it is helpful for identifying causes and crafting the answer.  Viewed graphically to indicate how the Project Systems work together and evolve, the SuperSystem might look like Figure SS.1.

You may have noticed that Figure SS.1 is not totally consistent with the Solution Search Path (SSP) as described in the Planning branch, because the figure is from an earlier version of CSD.  The Muddle Buster has decided to leave it that way as an opportunity to illustrate what is meant by saying “CSD is a paradigm, not a cookbook recipe.”  The Startup, Solution-Discovery, and Solution-Build phases of a CSD project as shown in the Figure are different than those in the Planning branch on this site, but they cover more or less the same sequence of project activities.  Also, the auxiliary systems the serve the Solution System are not mentioned in the Planning branch.  However, in spite of the differences, the project flow in the figure and the Planning branch both express the same underlying idea.  Dear Viewer, if you grasp that, you grasp the meaning of “CSD is a paradigm.”

Figure SS.1  The SuperSystem Consists of All the Functioning Parts of a Project and Its Surroundings

Makeup of the SuperSystem

The SuperSystem is made up of three kinds of systems, plus some non-system stuff.

1. Systems built by the project, obviously, are one kind of system in the SuperSystem.  These are:

  • The core systems of the project as shown in Figure SS.1 (in Planning called the project Phases):
    • Startup System
    • Solution-Discovery System
    • Solution-Build System.
  • The product of the project
    • Solution System
    • Auxiliaries to the Solution System
      • Operating System
      • Improvement System
      • Disposal System.

2. Systems coming initially from the context but then modified by the project are another kind of system.  These are:

  • The Need System, the basis of the Problem System (not shown in the Figure).  It is initially given as part of the context but is expanded and refined by the project.
  • The Value System, derived from the stakeholders, then expanded and refined as the project proceeds.
  • The Problem System (not shown in Figure SS.1), is derived from the Need System and Value System.  It is expanded and refined by the project, and finally.transformed by the Solution System into the Desired Results System.
  • The Stakeholder System, which initially may be entirely unorganized, or may be self-organized to less or greater extent.  During the project it may be further organized by the core systems.

3. Those systems in the context that are entirely fixed but are important because they impinge on the project are the third kind of system, not shown in the figure.  These include for example:

  • Individuals and groups with power to influence the project, in the worlds of government, non-governmental organizations, business, and general society.  The source of their power may be through authorized channels or may be self-instigated.
  • Statutory rules and regulations that are imposed on other systems of the SuperSystem.
  • Relevant features within the context, physical and otherwise, such as the weather, the terrain, the natural environment and ecosystems, the surrounding built environment, etc.

Finally, there is non-system stuff, one might say commodity-like elements of the context, such as the availability of support resources for the project.  Depending on the project, that might include energy sources, materials, labor with various skills, and so on.

Another, slightly different way to approach the SuperSystem is to distinguish between the given conditions and those elements of the project that are under project control.  The Given Conditions trigger the project in the first place, and are the world within which the project exists and operates.  They provide all the necessary resources.  They impose constraints, erect barriers, hurl threats.  They are beyond the direct control of the project, but will be affected by the project and the resulting Solution.  In fact, therein lies the fundamental reason for doing the project.  The project exists to provide a Solution that affects the Given Conditions in order to extinguish the Problem.

SuperSystem: Paradigm, Not Cookbook Recipe

Approach the SuperSystem concept as a paradigm, expressing the essence of the concept, which is to be modified, adapted, tailored, stretched or squeezed as necessary to best fit the needs of a particular project.  It is not to be imposed rigidly and mindlessly for the sake of a formality.

The types of system and non-system parts of the SuperSystem listed above are to be taken as examples only, as guidelines for building the real SuperSystem for an actual project.

Building the Project SuperSystem Image

Any CSD project, regardless of size, can benefit from building the SuperSystem image.

For a very small project, doing it during planning helps with identifying needed elements of the plan.  During execution it helps with problem-solving when unexpected issues arise, and provides a perspective when long-view thinking is needed.

For a project of large scope and complexity, building the SuperSystem is virtually mandatory.  It is a starting place for designing and executing the task planning and scheduling, task delegation and management, and knowledge management functions of the project.  It supports complexity management during solution-discovery phases by providing a top-level framework for dis-aggregating the work into understandable chunks and then re-integrating results into a complete whole.

Tailoring the SuperSystem Image to the Project

Again emphasizing that the SuperSystem image here is a paradigm, not a cookbook recipe, the job of project leadership early in the project is to create the SuperSystem image specifically for that project.  That image will contain exactly all the top-level components of the project, and nothing else.

Start with the SuperSystem image shown here in figure SS.1, or the corresponding one using project Phases as described in the Planning branch, as guidelines for constructing your own.  If any of the components in those images fit your project, keep them.  If some are absent from your project, discard them.  If your project has components not included in the guideline images, add them.

When you think you are done, step back and compare the view of the SuperSystem you’ve constructed with real life.  Is everything in real life represented in your SuperSystem image?  Does your image contain only those components that are actually present in real life.  Now push the “play” button.  Imagine your SuperSystem in action as it evolves through the project life cycle.  Does it work?  Does everything you imagine happening in real life have its counterpart in the animated Supersystem image?  If any answers to the questions above are negative, fix the problem and keep trying until it is right.