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Systems Thinking Webinar Series marks milestone

On Monday, May 6 at noon, the MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series will offer its 50th webinar. “Technical Debt in Large Systems: Understanding the Cost of Software Complexity” will be discussed by System Design and Management alum and MIT Engineering Systems Division Ph.D. Daniel Sturtevant. Founded in November 2010, the series is an MIT SDM distance learning offering that disseminates information on how to employ systems thinking to address the engineering, management, and socio-political components of today’s complex challenges. All webinars feature research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners, and are open to all at no charge.

According to Pat Hale, director of the SDM Fellows Program, webinar topics have included leadership, innovation, software, product development and design, inventory management, safety, organizational transformation, Lean and more. Because industries represented by the audience vary from defense, automotive and aerospace to healthcare, energy, new drug development and others, each presentation is designed to offer attendees a high-level view of how to apply systems thinking to complex challenges in their own domains.

“Literally thousands have attended the live webinars or listened to on-demand recordings,” Hale says. “We’ve received reports that in some companies, teams watch them to learn together. In addition, many folks attend regularly, no matter what the topic”.

The series was created by SDM Communications Director Lois Slavin, with the support of SDM Operations Manager Christine Bates. Each webinar is hosted by Slavin, with Steven Derocher serving as technical director.

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