Holistic Methodologies: The Hunting of the Snark

Holistic Methodologies are often seen as developing as a reaction to the perceived problems of semi-formal methodologies. One of the most important and influential of these holistic methodologies is Peter Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). Checkland claims that the origin of SSM lies in: "... the belief that, in the words of West Churchman, 'The systems approach is not a bad idea'. The systems approach referred to here is General Systems Theory, which tries to deal with reality as an indivisible whole. Consequently we call this approach to software design the holistic strand, in recognition of the way in which it attempts to deal with the problem 'as a whole'.

Holistic Methodologies - a summary

Holistic methodologies attempt to deal with software descriptions that are both open and incomplete and adopt an anti-realist ontology and empiricist epistemology. In these approaches to systems design, there is no common point of reference for different stakeholders and every aspect of systems design is open to challenge. In essence, holistic software design methods abandon any notion of a potential link between program design and software design and concentrate solely on the problems of software design and by doing so, proponents claim these methods give a better appreciation of the problems that actually need solving.

Holistic Methodologies - pros and cons

Pros

Because holistic methodologies are unencumbered by the need to maintain a link to the assumptions needed for program design many claim that their primary advantage is that they can facilitate the identification and resolution of underlying problems - the solution to which may or may not involve the construction of an information system. It is claimed by some that in doing so, such approaches can ease the transition between the messy world of the human activity system and the more ordered world of the systems designer. Consequently, holistic methods are often seen as a way to achieve a better 'fit' between the needs of the systems designer and the user before employing one of the more 'traditional' systems design methods.

Cons

Some of the weaknesses of holistic approaches are obvious, because the link to programs has been severed, holistic methodologies do not necessarily provide much guidance about how to implement the solution. Similarly, they are criticised for not providing much in the way of goals and targets that could be used to manage a project. Because every aspect of the design is open to challenge, these approaches are also criticised as being both too reliant on the skill and impartiality of the analyst who needs to manage the discourse and too demanding of users time and energy who have to engage with and participate in the process in a way that other methodologies do not require.

Reading

Books

• See any of the books from the SDM books section

Articles

• Chapters 10, 23 and 24 in D . Avison and G Fitzgerald, Information Systems Development: Methodologies, Techniques and Tools (3rd Edition), McGraw-Hill Publishing, 2002
• Checkland P. Soft Systems Methodology and its relevance to the development of information systems. In Information Systems Provision: the Contribution of Soft Systems Methodology, Stowell FA (ed.). McGraw-Hill: London, 1995.
• Checkland P, Scholes J. Soft Systems Methodology in Action. John Wiley: Chichester, 1990.
• Mumford. E. Designing Human Systems. Manchester Business School, 1983.
• Checkland, P., Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, Wiley, Chichester, 1981.
• Mumford, E. and Weir, M. Computer Systems in Work Design - the ETHICS method, Associated Business Press, Manchester, 1979
• Leavitt, H. Applied organization change in industry : structural, technical and human approaches, Wiley, New York, USA, 1964

On-line Articles

• Review of soft systems methodology. Platt, A. and Warwick, S. (1995). Industrial Management and Data Systems, 95(4), pp. 19 - 21.
  A stage by stage review of the methodology together with some commentary on where and when it might be applicable.

• Soft systems methodology: a thirty year retrospective. Checkland, P. (2000). Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 17(1), pp 11 - 58.
  A summary of approximately 30 years of research (over 100 papers and four books) in 48 pages by one of the creators of Soft Systems Methodology.

• How we profess: the ethical systems analyst. Wood-Harper, T.; Corder, S.; Wood, J. R. G. and Watson, H. (1996). Commun. ACM, 39(3), pp. 69-77.
  A wide ranging discussion of the role of the systems analyst which advocates the analysis of design decisions using an explicit ethical framework. In this particular case soft systems methodology was used to make the ethical dimensions of the system more explicit.

• Defining System Requirements to meet Business Needs: a Case Study Example. Mumford, E. (1985). The Computer Journal, 28(2), pp. 97 - 104.
  The correct definition of system requirements is claimed to be one of the most effective ways of meeting user needs and reducing the costs of post-implementation adjustments. This article describes a method for doing this based on Enid Mumford's ETHICS Methodology: a design approach that deals specifically with organizational, administrative and quality-of-working-life factors.

A practical example

• Soft OR and Management Practice: A Study of the Adoption and Use of Soft Systems Methodology. Ledington, P. and Donaldson, J (1997). The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 48(3), pp. 229-240.
  The adoption and use of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) within management practice of 349 members of the Systems Study Group (SSG) of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. The study reveals the unexpected result that there are two modes of adoption: one is where users indicate that they apply the core elements of SSM; the other is where users claim to use SSM, but do not report that they use any of the core elements of the approach.

Web pages

• The Soft Systems Methodology From Wikipedia
• Critical Systems Thinking and Information Technology by Kristo Ivanov
• A philosophical discussion of the root definition in soft systems thinking: an enrichment of CATWOE Andrew Basden and A. Trevor Wood-Harper

Lecture notes

The notes for this session are available as a presentation (in pdf format) - lecture notes for session 7