Thinking books · Systems thinking · John Gall, 1975

The Systems Bible — the big ideas

A satirical but serious book of laws about how complex systems actually behave.

Free — no account needed to read

The big ideas

A complex system that works has invariably evolved from a simple system that worked. Designing a complex system from scratch reliably fails — which is the most reused idea in the book.

Systems tend to oppose their own stated purpose, and to expand to fill whatever space is available.

The system is not what its diagram says. What it actually does, especially when it fails, is the real specification.

Its humour carries real observations. Read as a set of warnings rather than as jokes.

Practise it — no need to have read it

Take a system you are inside. Write its stated purpose, and then what it actually optimises for based on what gets rewarded.

A hint: The gap is where the behaviour you find puzzling comes from.

Where it shows up in real life

• Reorganisations
• Building anything large
• Understanding bureaucracy

Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.