About the Series

The MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series, sponsored by the System Design & Management (SDM) program, features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges. Recordings and slides from prior SDM webinars can be accessed below.

• Can a Life-Cycle Assessment Model Aid Sustainability Negotiations? April 10, 2017
• Applying Systems-Based Methods to Challenges in Product Development, Management, and Organizational Dynamics March 27, 2017
• A Systems Approach to Creating Affordable Access to Medical Devices in Africa March 13, 2017
• A Smart City Pilot in Boston: Collecting Human-Centric Urban Data February 27, 2017
• Redesigning/Updating the Healthcare Information Infrastructure: A Systems-Based Approach November 28, 2016
• Logistics That Learn: A Dynamic Engine to Drive a Smarter Logistics Future November 14, 2016
• How to Avoid Overengineering October 31, 2016
• Agile Project Dynamics for Aerospace and Defense Technologies and Plus Lessons for Other Sectors October 17, 2016
• Building an AI Product to Improve High-Tech Sales September 12, 2016
• Applying Joy’s Law to Open Innovation at NASA June 6, 2016
• Is the Commissioned Sales Force Model Right for Today’s Semiconductor Industry? May 23, 2016
• Competing at Innovative Speed: Why Is It So Darn Hard? May 9, 2016
• Cultivating Resilience with Heuristics and Systems Thinking: Lessons from New Industries April 25, 2016
• Using Systems Thinking to Assess and Address Cybersecurity Challenges March 24, 2016
• How to Navigate the Perils and Promises of Intrusion Prevention Systems March 21, 2016
• A Systems-Based Approach to Startups: Why They Fail and How They Can Succeed March 7, 2016
• Architecting and Building Private Clouds by Leveraging Systems Thinking February 22, 2016
• The Importance of (Big) Data for Healthcare Safety-Net Organizations February 8, 2016
• A Systems Analysis of Tactical Intelligence in the US Army November 16, 2015
• Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Enterprise Social Software on Business Practices November 2, 2015
• How to Build a Culture of Innovation Through Design and Systems Thinking October 19, 2015
• The Technology-Based Transformation of the Media Industry September 21, 2015
• How to Prepare for Workforce Continuity and Business Operations in the Upcoming Flu Season: It’s Nothing to Sneeze At! September 10, 2015
• Challenging Common Software Design Principles June 15, 2015
• Creating a Technology Strategy and Roadmap for Global Manufacturing at Merck June 1, 2015
• System Architecture: Strategy and Product Development for Complex Systems May 4, 2015
• Hadoop-Based Data Exploration for the Healthcare Safety Net—Technical and Sociocultural Challenges to Big Data Usability April 6, 2015
• Systems Thinking in Mobile Networking: How Virtualization and Programming Change the Mobile Paradigm March 23, 2015
• System Architecture and Bitcoin: The Opportunities and Challenges March 9, 2015
• How to Open-source the Creative Process: Democratizing Innovation, Product Design and Development, and Technology Strategy February 23, 2015
• To Model or Not to Model? Formalizing the Conceptual Modeling Thought Process to Benefit Engineers and Scientists February 9, 2015
• How to Analyze and Visualize a Large, Interconnected Software System: A Study of Fedora 20 with Lessons for All January 26, 2015
• A Systems Approach to Fostering Innovation Ecosystems within Academic and Business Communities December 1, 2014
• Developing Analytics for the Healthcare Safety Net: A Systems Approach November 17, 2014
• Integrated Design for Product Success November 3, 2014
• A Systems Approach to the 2014 Midterm Elections: Voting to Achieve Systemwide Change October 20, 2014
• Where’s the Money? Migrating to a Global Digital Monetary Ecosystem September 22, 2014
• Move Over, Big Data! How Small, Simple Models Can Yield Big Insights September 8, 2014
• System Architecture and the Evolution of E-Governance in Estonia: Lessons for Industries Around the World July 21, 2014
• System Architecture for Corporate Innovation July 14, 2014
• Hacking Medicine and the Rx It Offers for Innovation in All Industries June 16, 2014
• The Maturation of Model-Based Systems Engineering: OPM as the ISO Conceptual Modeling Language Standard June 2, 2014
• Risks and Mitigation Approaches for Business System Integration May 19, 2014
• Strategy, Simulation, and Analytics for the Complex World of Education May 5, 2014
• Applying Systems Thinking to Energy and Sustainability Challenges in Chile April 7, 2014
• ‘Gap-Filling Organizations’: Competing at Speed in a Fast-Moving World March 24, 2014
• Addressing Patient Wait Times with Systems Thinking March 10, 2014
• Understanding Integrated Circuit Security Threats February 10, 2014
• Supply Chain and Risk Management: Making the Right Decisions to Strengthen Operations Performance January 27, 2014
• Architecting a Future Tele-Health Care System to Treat PTSD in the US Military January 13, 2014
• Systems Thinking and the Inevitability of the Dreamliner Delays December 2, 2013
• Using System Dynamics to Support Startups, Stimulate the Economy, and Create More Jobs November 18, 2013
• Improving PTSD Treatment for US Military Personnel via Enterprise Architecting November 4, 2013
• How to Secure and Grow Your Islands of Profit October 21, 2013
• A Systems Approach to Airport Planning, Design, and Management September 23, 2013
• Systems Dynamics-Based Strategies for Introducing Alternative Fuel Vehicles in India September 9, 2013
• Cyber Security and Cyber Defense: A Systems Approach August 12, 2013
• Designing and Operating Safety Systems: The Missing Link July 29, 2013
• Applying Systems Thinking to World Hunger: Seeking Solutions in Agriculture, Food Production,and Sustainability July 15, 2013
• Using Systems Thinking in a Travel Industry Startup June 17, 2013
• Trust Frameworks and Asymptotic Identity Proofing: A Systems Approach June 3, 2013
• Software Systems Architecture in the World of Cloud Computing May 20, 2013
• Technical Debt in Large Systems: Understanding the Cost of Software Complexity May 6, 2013
• Flexibility in Engineering Design April 22, 2013
• Understanding and Designing Complex Sociotechnical Systems April 8, 2013
• A Systems-based Approach to Product Design and Development in Patient–centric Health Care March 25, 2013
• The Crises In Employment, Consumption, Economic Growth, and the Environment: Could a Shorter Workweek and a Greener Economy Provide Relief? March 11, 2013
• Leadership for Learning Organizations: Lessons from healthcare, sports, and more to help you obtain better results February 25, 2013
• From Politics and Finance to Power Grids and Products: Addressing Complexity in the Interconnected World February 11, 2013
• Applying a Complex System Architecture Evaluation Method to the 2005 Ford GT 200 MPH Supercar January 28, 2013
• Buying Common: Executing Platform Strategies in Supply Chain and Procurement Organizations January 14, 2013
• Lean Thinking in an Academic Medical Center — The Beat Goes On December 10, 2012
• Multisourcing Conflicts: What Does a Manager Focus On? November 19, 2012
• Strategies for Evolution and Sustenance of Network Ecosystem October 15, 2012
• Managing for Profit: Five Building Blocks of Success October 1, 2012
• The Incumbent’s Dilemma: To fight, follow or flee the attacking innovation? September 17, 2012
• Identifying Architectural Modularity in the Smart Grid August 20, 2012
• Using Systems Engineering Tools to Design a Smart Energy Box July 23, 2012
• The Transformation of the Datacenter: How to Solve the Exascale Problem with This One Weird Trick Discovered by a Housewife in Cambridge June 11, 2012
• System Approach to Prevent Safety and Quality Problems in Modern Automobiles May 14, 2012
• The Emergence of a Digital Money Ecosystem April 30, 2012
• How Self-Organizing "Tribes" are Transforming the Solar Industry April 2, 2012
• A Systems Approach for Addressing the Crisis in Employment and Consumer Demand March 19, 2012
• Investigations of Platform Savings Reveal Systemic Management Challenges March 5, 2012
• How Software Learns: What Happens after Software Is Shipped February 6, 2012
• Inventory Productivity: Missing Link Between Supply Chain Management and Sales January 23, 2012
• Creative Experimentation: Developing a Skill Critical for Managing Complex Operating Systems (A two-part series) January 9, 2012
• Using Lean Thinking to Transform a Large Academic Medical Center December 12, 2011
• Start-Up Thinking: How Systems Thinking Helps Entrepreneurial Ventures Start, Grow, and Mature November 28, 2011
• Power System Balancing with High Renewable Penetration: The Potential of Demand Response in Hawai’i November 14, 2011
• A Systems View of Enabling Enterprise Change October 31, 2011
• Transforming the Industrial State: The Ultimate Complex System Challenge October 17, 2011
• Optimizing the Supply Chain of Medical Devices: A Shared SaaS Platform for Suppliers and Providers (A two-part series) September 19, 2011
• Why Systems Thinking is Not a Natural Act August 22, 2011
• Anomalies or Leading Indicators? Recent System Failures in IT Security, Manufacturing, and Natural Resource Extraction August 8, 2011
• Five Capabilities for Enterprise Change: Approaches for Integrating Continuous Improvement and Strategic Change Across Organizations July 25, 2011
• Transformation at Bank of America: An Enterprise Systems Analysis July 11, 2011
• Scientific Methods to Reduce System Testing Cost and Risk June 28, 2011
• Designing Systems for People June 20, 2011
• How to Manage a Profitability Turnaround June 6, 2011
• The Changing Nature of Research and Innovation in the 21st Century May 23, 2011
• Systems Thinking and the Development of a Large-Scale, Secure Network for Comparative Effectiveness Healthcare Research May 9, 2011
• Using Quality by Design (QbD) and Systems Thinking in the Development, Commercialization and Life Cycle Management of Medicines and Vaccines April 25, 2011
• Dynamic Time Metered Delivery (DTMD): Potential Effect on the Goals of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan April 11, 2011
• Status of Grid-scale Energy Storage and Strategies for Accelerating Cost-effective Deployment March 28, 2011
• Leadership, Innovation, and Operational Excellence: How Market Leaders Beat the Competition March 14, 2011
• System Interaction Complexity Metrics and Its Application to Embedded Software Systems February 28, 2011
• Systems Thinking and Software Architecture February 14, 2011
• On Developing Business Architectures: A Multi-Framework Evaluation of an Early Stage Enterprise December 20, 2010
• Analysis of Value Creation and Value Capture in the Microfluidics Market December 6, 2010
• The Evolution of Business Ecosystems: Interspecies Competition in the Steel Industry November 8, 2010