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Category Archives: systems thinking
Twelve Properties of Effective Classification Schemes
Most organisations seem to use a classification system (or taxonomy) of some sort, for instance for safety classification, and much time is spent developing and using such taxonomies. Importantly, decisions may be made on the basis of the taxonomy and associated database outputs (or it may be that much time is spent on development and use, but little happens as a result). There is therefore a risk of time and money spent unnecessarily, with associated opportunity costs. Still, taxonomies are a requirement in all sorts of areas, and several things should be kept in mind when designing and evaluating a taxonomy. This posts introduces twelve properties of effective classification systems. Continue reading
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Human Factors at the Fringe: BaseCamp
A legendary rivalry: one mountain and two climbers seeking to be the best. We join them at basecamp as they prepare for the challenges of the ascent. Invited into separate tents to join just one of the two climbers, audiences … Continue reading
Bonding and Bridging at the Philosophical Breakfast Club
On 26 April 2018, I presented at the ‘Philosophical Breakfast Club’ (@philosophicalBC) conference on High Performing Teams (#PBCHPT2018). It was a remarkable conference bringing together healthcare professionals, psychologists, sports scientists, athletes, managers, human factors/ergonomics specialists, military officers and specialists, and others, My first conversation while having tea before the conference was with a spinal surgeon and bomb disposal expert. Throughout the conference I had many other fascinating conversations with people from a diverse range of backgrounds.
This leads me to the focus of my talk: collaboration at the interfaces, and what happens between teams, groups, professions, layers of management, organisations… In this post, I summarise the talk, slide by slide, with tweet-sized explanations. Continue reading
Learning from Communities: A Conversation with Cormac Russell
The study of communities and community-building activities can provide important insights into collaboration within and between organisations. Over the last 21 years Cormac Russell has worked in 35 countries, with communities, agencies, non-governmental organisations and governments. This post includes the podcast and transcript of a conversation between Cormac Russell and me, about learning from communities. Continue reading
Posted in Culture, systems thinking
Tagged ABCD, assets, collaboration, community, focus groups, groupwork, safety-II
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Bonding and bridging: Expanding who ‘we’ are
The text in this post is from the Editorial of HindSight magazine, Issue 26, on Safety at the Interfaces: Collaboration at Work, available for download here. Over the past decade or so, my colleagues and I have spent a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Safety, systems thinking
Tagged ABCD, collaboration, social capital
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Four Kinds of Human Factors: 4. Socio-Technical System Interaction
This is the fourth in a series of posts on different ‘kinds’ of human factors, as understood both within and outside the discipline and profession of human factors and ergonomics itself. The first post explored human factors as ‘the human … Continue reading
Posted in Human Factors/Ergonomics, systems thinking
Tagged ergonomics, human factors, safety, systems thinking
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Four Kinds of Human Factors: 3. Factors Affecting Humans
This third post explores another perspective on ‘human factors’: Factors Affecting Humans. Continue reading
Posted in Human Factors/Ergonomics, Safety, systems thinking
Tagged ergonomics, human factors, safety
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