Work System

At it's essence, a work system is the real-world system where people and technology combine to get something done.

Steven Alter explains the work system in his work system theory (WST) in his paper, Work System Theory: Overview of Core Concepts, Extensions, and Challenges for the Future. 

Per that theory, a work system has six basic ingredients (components):

  1. Participants: who performs the work
  2. Activities and processes: actual work performed
  3. Information: what participants use to perform the work
  4. Technologies: tools that assist in the performance of the work
  5. Products and services: output from the work activities and processes
  6. Customers: those who receive value from the work
Those six ingredients above interact within three contextual elements which are:
  1. Environment: external factors which the work system cannot control but rather must adapt to
  2. Strategies: guiding intent or direction choices made which shapes how the work system operates
  3. Infrastructure: shared technical and human resources that support the work system but are not part of the work system's day‑to‑day operations
And so, those six ingredients and the three contextual elements can be organized into a work system framework which looks like the following graphic: (from Wikicommons)


Whereas work system theory (WST) is the theory that defines work systems; the work systems method (WSM) is the practical method for discussing, analyzing, and improving a work system.

Work systems evolve.  A Wardley map is a strategic visualization of the six "ingredients" or components inside the work system and the three contextual elements around a work system. Using a Wardley Map you can visualize and see the dependencies Work systems have stages in their evolution.

In short, a Wardley Map takes the dimensions of the work systems framework and how elements depend on one another in this "living organism" of a work system and places it within the competitive terrain, showing you exactly where to invest, what to outsource, and how the system must evolve over time in order to survive.

All this helps one understand a work system.  By way of contrast, a kludge is an engineering/computer science term that defines what is best described as a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is typically clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain; but it gets the job done. 

Work system theory, work system method, understanding the work system framework, and using Wardley maps can help one better understand the dynamics involved within a work system in order to industrialize a work system. The objective is an unusual level of effectiveness, grace, and simplicity.

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