Next up in #PapersInSystems :

“The Causal Texture of Organizational Environments” by Fred E. Emery and Eric L. Trist (1965)

https://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/64/04702605/0470260564.pdf

Discussion will be led by @trondhjort — who has been bringing many of these classics in sociotechnical systems to broader attention in our field. Very excited that Trond will lead this!

Monday April 6, 1-2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada).

More info/sign up: https://ti.to/bredemeyer/causaltextureofenvironments

For the #PapersInSystems community: we need to get some papers and offers to lead in the pipe.

Suggestions for upcoming papers to discuss include:

David Woods' "Four concepts for resilience and the implications for the future of resilience engineering"
https://maritimesafetyinnovationlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/4sensesofresiliencepublic.pdf

I know this is a staple reading, but it's also good to have a reason to reread and discuss not just insights, but connections to experience and other works.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@yvonnezlam/115793526238892238

#PapersInSystems : 20 Things I Learned As A Systems (Over) Thinker

January 5th, 2026, 1PM - 2PM Eastern Time (US/Canada) (19:00 CET). The Zoom room will remain open until 2:30PM for informal discussion.

The paper is available at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/johnpcutler_20-things-ive-learned-as-a-systems-over-activity-6925265247985426432-mRPy/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@RuthMalan/115737683647764053

My mastodon wrapped says #AdventOfSystemSeeing is my most used hashtag this year, and well, yeah… 24 days of Advent prompts is more than (at most) 12 months of #PapersInSystems announcements :D

#PapersInSystems : Monday Jan 5, 1-2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

@johncutlefish ’s “Twenty Things I Learned as a Systems (Over)Thinker

https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/20-things-ive-learned-as-a-systems

It is also here, with illustrations:

https://www.viktorcessan.com/20-systems-over-thinker-tips/

Discussion will be led by @yvonnezlam

More here, and to sign up (free, of course): https://ti.to/bredemeyer/cutlerstwentythings

Really great conversation today about Herbert Simon's 1962 paper "The Architecture of Complexity", thanks as always @RuthMalan for keeping us informed and updated! I could have gone on for hours probably.

This paper impressed on me because it talks about complex systems being hierarchical. And that reminds me a lot of Leonard Meyer's musical analysis methods published just six years before in 1956 - Emotion and Meaning in Music - that performs hierarchical analysis on music. Simon even mentions this in the paper, giving music as an example of hierarchical complexity. Coincidence? Maybe not, Meyer's work was well-known and influential at the time. No citation though.

Gestalt psychology is something Meyer was into and it shows a lot in Simon's thinking. The story of the watchmakers feels like a gestalt approach to complexity, one of them working faster by abstracting away the parts. Like Meyer does with his adoption of "iamb" and "trochee" for application to music, continuous abstraction pulls the lens out to the point that an entire symphony can be one large amphibrach pattern of expectation and release.

Anyway, coincidentally this recent $5 purchase arrived today!

#ComplexSystems #LeonardMeyer #HerbertSimon #Hierarchies #NearDecomposable #PapersInSystems

RE: https://mastodon.social/@RuthMalan/115551278812003308

We’re discussing this classic today. The #PapersInSystems community is a lovely community to have a focused conversation with — the discussions draw on so much experience, and draw in connections to other work.

This post by @hazelweakly

https://hazelweakly.me/blog/to-be-a-leader-of-systems/

pairs well with @johncutlefish ’s “Twenty Things”

https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/20-things-ive-learned-as-a-systems

It is also here, with illustrations: https://www.viktorcessan.com/20-systems-over-thinker-tips/

We will be discussing Twenty Things on the first Monday in January! #PapersInSystems

More here: https://ti.to/bredemeyer/cutlerstwentythings

The next #PapersInSystems discussion is on Monday Dec 1, 1-2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Paper: "The Architecture of Complexity" by Herbert Simon.

Josh Reynolds will lead the discussion.

Sign up (free): https://ti.to/bredemeyer/architectureofcomplexity