Welcome to NOTES
A thinking, writing, and community experiment from Systems Design Lab
Systems Design Lab helps social sector organizations use systems thinking and human-centered design to collaborate, innovate, and amplify their community impact. We work with technical tools, but we focus most on people. We are really good at bringing together diverse perspectives to make radical changes that lead to radical social change.
Hey there! I'm Emma Parkerson, one of the co-founders of Systems Design Lab. I’m writing this—our first Substack entry—from rural New England, where I live in a multi-generational home with my husband, mother, and daughter. My work wife and co-founder Ke also lives here with her family.
We are all really excited about the beginnings of spring; we are buying swimsuits and sun hats and preparing a garden for planting. Here in Vermont, it’s mud season. We are coming out of winter, and there’s a deluge of water leaving our world a bit muddy. The seasonal transition is upon us.
Quaker elder Parker Palmer said, “If we lived close to nature, the seasons as a metaphor and fact would continually frame our lives.” This is a great reminder that everything moves in cycles. As former Californians who are now living in four-season climates, our team is starting to think about this more. We have been talking about how a seasonal life means frequent transitions. What does it look like to support these moments well?
These liminal spaces often bring a mix of grief, joy, and reflection, and it’s human nature to push through, to get to the next thing as quickly as possible. The same is true at work; it’s human nature to minimize pain by focusing on process and progress. At SDL, we are resisting that temptation — ourselves and with our clients.
Right now, we are pausing and looking for the wisdom that winter brought us. Poet and author Katherine May challenges us: we have a responsibility to pass on our learning from wintering. And that’s what’s stoked a new beginning: NOTES from Systems Design Lab. Here, we aim to learn in public, curate our latest thinking, and connect with others doing messy work in complex social systems.
Here’s what you can expect:
You’ll hear from our team, learn about who we are and what we care about, and get a window into how we think and work together.
You’ll learn from communities where folks apply systems thinking and human-centered design practices.
We’ll discuss topics we’re curious about, such as transitions, complexity, coordination, and emergence.
We’ll explore the tools we use, what we’re reading, and the artifacts and lineages that guide our practice.
We hope you’ll come along for the ride. This is an experiment, and we can’t wait to see what we learn!
So, let’s get started. What’s on your mind related to systems thinking and design in the social sector? We would love to hear, connect, and talk about it here!
Congrats on the new Substack. Love the premise and look forward to more wisdom from you and your team at SDL!
So excited!!