Successful for whom?
Our booking service is performing better: it allocated 120 appointments instead of 100.
Test the claim
A plausible systems claim can survive a workshop and still fail a simple question. Work through a short fictional case, then test your answer against a counterexample. The point is to find the next useful observation or decision.
Allow about 15 minutes per case. Write your answer before opening the comparison. These are editorial learning routes, not new relationships in the evidence graph, an assessment, or a substitute for work with people in the situation.
Choose the decision you face
Before approving an improvement claim
Before redesigning a service
Before commissioning a systems workshop
Eight claims to test
The queue has shrunk. Has the work?
We closed 80 cases this month, so the backlog must have fallen by 80.
More options, more capability?
We need a separate procedure for every kind of request: requisite variety demands it.
A job title is not a function
The chief executive is System 5, so we have found the organisation's policy function.
Everyone was consulted
The workshop was representative because every stakeholder group received an invitation.
Four methods, one answer?
We used four systems methods, so the recommendation has four times the support.
The average improved
Average waiting time fell to ten days, proving that the pilot worked.
The map proves the cause
Everybody recognised the feedback loop, so it must explain the problem.
All task sheets without answers · Download the cases and route record