The Essence of SiD

Where this fits

The Foreword told you why SiD was created. "Why Now?" explained why the world needs it. This chapter gives you the overview: what SiD is, how it is structured, and what it feels like to use. It introduces the core concepts (RAH, system dynamics, and the four components) through a thought experiment about an alien colony floating in space. By the end, you will have the mental model needed to dive into the full theory.

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What SiD is, in one paragraph

SiD (Symbiosis in Development) is a framework for developing sustainable, symbiotic solutions. It is a complete process from idea to implementation, designed for teams of cooperating experts and individuals alike. It combines a holistic systems approach, interdisciplinary collaboration, design thinking, and lightweight iterative development cycles. The result: top-down systemic strategies activated by bottom-up interventions, pushed toward implementation using short-term action plans that follow long-term roadmaps toward systemic change. In application, SiD gives deep insight into interconnected systems such as supply chains, ecosystem services, circular economies, and system dynamics.

If that paragraph felt like a waterfall of terms, good. By the end of this book, every word in it will be concrete.

Why use SiD?

If the past has taught us anything, it is that no matter where in the world we want to act (big or small) we must consider the long-term consequences of our actions. We need to account for all aspects of society if we want to end up with a better world. Focusing only on sub-aspects like energy or food is insufficient, because they are all related and eventually affect each other.

SiD enables you to take the full system into account at all times, and to use this as a strength: finding the most effective solutions that cost the least effort and resources.

SiD does not tell you what to do, nor what is right and wrong. Instead, it helps you figure out what the right questions are in any given situation. Then it gives you a process to work toward an answer, step by step. It allows you to track possible downsides of your actions and gives you tools to develop powerful concepts and evaluate them along the way. You can use it alone or with a team, from a small student project to decade-long transition programs in cities, businesses, industry, and governance.

SiD's four components

SiD consists of four nested components: Theory, Method, Process, and Tools.

SiD Theory covers the fundamental concepts at SiD's core: the sustainability definition, the anatomy of systems, networks, objects, system dynamics, system transitions, and roadmaps.

SiD Method describes how the theory is applied in a step-by-step process. This is the five-step method: Goals and Indicators, System Mapping, System Understanding, Solutioning and Roadmapping, and Evaluate and Iterate. The method is iterative; during a single project it is cycled through several times.

SiD Process focuses on day-to-day practice: how to apply the method in a practical project management approach, build a team, involve stakeholders, and run a working process from start to finish.

SiD Tools lists a variety of aids that can be used at various stages of a project.

How to read this book

This book works as a reference handbook. You do not need to read it front to back. Jump from area to area depending on your interest.

The first part is theoretical, which can take effort to get through. The last parts are practical, step-by-step instructions. If you prefer to learn by doing, you may want to explore the practice sections before the in-depth theory.

Quick-start path: Read this introduction chapter, then read only the introductions and overviews of Theory, Method, and Process. Skip the Tools section until you find a reference worth following up. Then go back to the sections you want to know more about, and go as deep as you like.

SiD takes time

Mastering SiD (or any systemic sustainability approach) takes time and effort. Sustainability, with its many facets, is inherently complex and rich in knowledge. SiD streamlines and accelerates the learning, but cannot make the challenges simpler in their essence.

In our experience, it takes a few years of full-time engagement to master SiD and all its related facets for sustainable development from start to finish. Thankfully, mastery is not required for usefulness. Many tools and approaches work well on their own, so you can learn step by step and start implementing immediately. The practical chapters on Method and Process will help you get going quickly.

Our hope is that after a few SiD projects, once you have allowed yourself to become familiar with the theory, it becomes useful even in day-to-day contexts. Say, in the supermarket, choosing between peanut butter brands. We also hope it brings you ideas and solutions you did not know you could reach without complicated software or months of work. At that stage, practicing SiD becomes a straightforward affair, almost an invisible intuitive process running in the background.

Modular framework

SiD is a modular framework that allows existing tools from outside the framework to be integrated when necessary. SiD is not a belief, dogma, or certification system. It is flexible, adjustable, and open for you to add your own techniques and change it where you want. If you already know business analysis tools like SWOT analysis or Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), slot them in wherever they fit.

Solo or together?

Many examples and exercises in this book are geared toward small teams of 3 to 5 people working together. However, SiD was originally developed as a solo tool, and works just as well for that. It has also been tested in the field with up to 70 stakeholders working together. Sometimes it is better to do certain sections of a challenge alone and others as a group. The Process section gives pointers on this.

The a-ha machine

In our experience, SiD excels at producing those unique "a-ha" moments where you suddenly see it. That one insight that makes all the difference. That solution which afterward seems so obvious.

SiD's method "uploads" available information about the system to your mind, where it is processed to recognize patterns. To suddenly see patterns in complex systems and derive a way forward, we have few tools to rely on but our own brains. These patterns are often the key to great solutions, but your brain needs to marinate in the challenge to find them.

This mental process is largely subconscious, which means it is vital to allow room for creativity and relaxation. Just as Archimedes needed his wife to force him into a bath (resulting in his "Eureka" moment), your brain needs mental rest to process in the background. You cannot cram a SiD process into a few hours and expect miracles. Taking time away from the problem during the system understanding phases greatly accelerates breakthroughs. Allow this, no matter what format you choose to work in.

Open source and sharing

SiD stands on the shoulders of giants, learning from ideas and frameworks developed by others. To support this, SiD is open source. Many of the diagrams and aids discussed in this book are free to download at ThinkSiD.org. If you want to alter or share this book or any SiD materials, you can do so under the Creative Commons license at the end of the book. If you make tools or improve existing ones, please share them back with the community.

By making SiD open source, we hope SiD itself is sustainable, with a bright future in building a sustainable society.

SiD and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations published its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 as part of its 2030 agenda. They emphasize a holistic approach to sustainability with 17 global challenges. The list shows, as SiD argues, that sustainability goes beyond mere energy and material concerns.

The SDGs are powerful for communication and reporting. SiD can be used to analyze SDG impacts, organize processes to develop solutions for them, and serve as a reporting framework. In reverse, the SDGs can guide a SiD development process.

However, the SDGs do not (yet) have clear corresponding targets in all areas, do not show interrelations between SDG areas, and do not provide a working framework to achieve improvement. While systemic in their origins as a whole, each individual SDG is object-oriented. This means the SDGs are most useful as a set of areas of concern, a sub-goal set, or a reporting framework for impacts. Useful for policy and goal setting, but not as a framework for systemic improvement.

SiD as a working framework for the SDGs: SiD can explore the SDGs within a specific challenge, map their impacts, and detect interrelations at a systems level. Beyond that, SiD can reveal the system dynamics behind them and their network of interrelations. From this, powerful systemic solutions emerge that positively affect multiple SDG areas at once. SiD guides you to find and plan activities for lasting long-term impact, toward what it calls RAH: Resilient, Autonomous, and Harmonious societies.

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A happy colony of aliens in space

The objective of sustainability, put simply, is for humanity to continue surviving on this planet. Preferably flourishing and happy, but that requires survival first and the absence of critical hardship second. What does it take?

To get a feeling for the base principles, try this thought experiment. Imagine an alien colony floating in space. What does it take for it to survive? This exercise clarifies the core theoretical principles of SiD.

Preventing collapse

To understand how our colony can continue to survive, it helps to think about its reverse: preventing collapse. Societal collapse has been well studied. It does not have to mean complete annihilation; more often it is the degradation of a civilization to a more primitive state. In either case, collapse brings death and destruction of values we hold dear: cultural sophistication, economic value, human rights. We want to prevent it.

So here is our alien colony, floating in space. Lovely aliens. They merely hope to survive and flourish.

The colony needs Autonomy

The colony needs its basics in order. All life requires resource inputs: sustenance, heat, medicine, materials. To survive indefinitely, the colony needs an indefinite supply of these resources, plus the infrastructure for extraction, production, and distribution (including recycling to reduce reliance on outside sources).

In SiD, these requirements fall under the word Autonomy. Autonomy is about self-sufficiency, and the capacity to make decisions that maintain it.

The colony needs Harmony

Having enough food, medicine, and shelter is necessary but not sufficient. If internal tensions run so high that the aliens keep killing each other, existence is threatened. Sources of tension include how resources are shared, power structures, and participation in decisions.

In SiD, everything related to managing internal tensions is called Harmony.

The colony needs Resilience

With autonomy and harmony in place, the colony is doing well. But outside influences remain. A meteor can cross their path. A moon's shadow can block their star. To deal with the unknown and survive, the colony needs certain properties:

• Detection: the ability to sense what is coming, like our eyes
• Awareness: understanding the meaning of what they sense
• Flexibility: the capacity to get out of the way
• Redundancy: enough members that some survive even a direct hit

In SiD, these aspects and others like them are called Resilience. They appear as network parameters that drive resilience and help you evaluate it.

RAH together

In order not to collapse, the colony needs to be Autonomous, in Harmony, and Resilient. These three together form RAH (Resilience, Autonomy, Harmony), the foundation of a sustainable society in the SiD framework. If the colony achieves all three at a sufficient level, it sets the preconditions for flourishing.

The colony needs healthy system dynamics

These three aspects influence one another. Increasing the colony's resource intake (autonomy) may make them heavier, reducing agility of movement (resilience). There is rarely an ideal move; there is always a trade-off within certain contextual circumstances.

Some of these interactions are subtle. Some develop slowly over time. Some are invisible at the individual level but massive at grand scale, like climate change. SiD calls the patterns in these interactions system dynamics (or system behaviors).

For example, the relationship between autonomy and resilience changes as the colony grows. It cannot grow indefinitely using the same structure. As it gets bigger, resilience declines unless autonomy is restructured through decentralized infrastructure. These dynamics are critical to survival.

Unfortunately, as a human civilization, we struggle most with the resilience part. We lack the "eyes" to see system dynamics, or even awareness of their existence. We routinely make decisions that reduce long-term resilience for short-term autonomy or harmony gains. As our society grows, we see increasingly self-reinforcing behaviors that threaten survival. Without addressing them, we become sitting ducks in space: an alien colony unable to move, consuming finite resources until it perishes.

The law of diminishing marginal returns

Joseph Tainter (1949-) is an anthropological scholar who asked one central question: why did sophisticated civilizations cease to exist? He was not satisfied with the usual answers (the Mayans collapsed because of famine, the Romans because of barbarian tribes). The Mayans had dealt with famine before. The Romans had dealt with barbarians before. What made them unable to overcome adversity this time?

Tainter studied many civilizations using network and complexity theory and found a pattern. In his book The Collapse of Complex Societies (1988), he shows that societies become "brittle" over time due to the law of diminishing marginal returns.

As a society grows, it increasingly needs more of everything. A developed society has a larger footprint per capita than a simple one, and this is irreversible (until collapse). "More of everything" includes not just energy and food, but less tangible things: capacity to handle trade transactions, cultural diversity, management overhead. Resources, including time, need to come in increasingly large supply. There are always limits. Once resources become scarce, pressure builds on every part of the system, making it brittle. If a new, more concentrated form of the scarce resource is not found, the system becomes critical. At that point, nearly anything can trigger collapse.

Applied to our alien colony: as it grows, it must fundamentally change its operations, infrastructures, and resource usage patterns to prevent becoming brittle and collapsing. Even in space, where there is infinite room to grow, there are limits to growth and a necessity to tune systems to their changing dynamics over time.

Learning from aliens and collapse

Looking at our world, we can see the cracks in an increasingly brittle system. Large societal movements (the Arab Spring, the rise of nationalism in the West) can be read as early systemic warning signs.

We also have unique properties that may help. Our society is globally connected for the first time in history. A world economy and resource system can help balance resource needs, keeping parts of society from collapsing in isolation. The downside is that this puts harmony under pressure: migration, resource conflicts over oil, land, food, and water.

We also have unprecedented technological advances that may allow us to tap into more concentrated or abundant resources, such as renewable energy and nuclear fusion. These may help us beat the curve until we figure out how to manage our own growth.

But beyond battling symptoms, the better path is to learn, understand, and apply the solutions that systemic insight brings. We can develop eyes and awareness. We can ride the wave of change out of the danger zone. Like the alien colony setting up control rooms to monitor system dynamics: screens showing the development of the colony, essential parameters to track, and a panel of wise aliens determining how to act.

There is no reason to think our society is exempt from the law of diminishing marginal returns, and plenty of proof that we have become increasingly brittle. But there are still many ways forward. It helps to look at our society as an alien colony floating in space and ask: What systems would we build to detect these dynamics? Where in the system can we intervene to increase resilience? What measures increase autonomy and resilience at once? How can we better embed harmony? What part can we each play?

Questions that SiD is built to help you answer.

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Case study: IKEA's self-learning supply chain

This is a real Except project that demonstrates SiD in action.

"I never fully realized IKEA's true power until we did this project," says Matthieu Leroy, Sustainability Specialist at IKEA Media Production.

To improve green procurement of paper and print for its 200-million-copy catalogue, IKEA Media Production teamed up with Except Integrated Sustainability. Together they worked with suppliers, Trade Extensions, and Deloitte on creating a sustainability-driven Self-Learning Supply Chain that is transforming the paper and print industries worldwide.

System thinking finds the breakthrough

Tom Bosschaert, founder of Except, explains: "We always look for the smartest lever to effect maximum change within a system, whether it is a company, a city, or a global supply chain." To find these levers, Except used SiD, combining systems thinking, network theory, and life-cycle understanding in a co-creation process. By visualizing the complex networks surrounding the catalogue, the team discovered how the system could be changed most effectively at the root.

Discovery: up-cycling information

IKEA had already collected significant sustainability data from 130 paper mills and printing factories across the globe. During systems analysis, the team revealed that supplier selection was not utilizing the smart choices this data could provide. The data had simply become too much for any human mind to process.

In a three-day co-creation session, the IKEA and Except team used systems mapping to create insight into the data describing the catalogue's life cycle, from forest logging and paper manufacturing through print. They mapped which people in the decision-making chain had the biggest influence on sustainability performance. From this systemic analysis, they pinpointed where the biggest gains could be achieved with the least effort and time.

The key: improving the use of already-available information. By visualizing data differently, more insight was derived, leading to better decisions about which suppliers to select at critical points in the life cycle.

Human-scale data

The team clustered existing data into 18 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) summarizing sustainability, quality, and operational metrics across IKEA's 130 potential supplier locations worldwide. Except designed a visual interface that displays all of this data in a single glance: color-coded graphs giving purchasers an instant overview of a supplier's entire performance. Mouse-overs reveal more granular data as needed.

Before, purchasers had to dig through pages of spreadsheet data to evaluate a supplier. The visualization tool replaced that with a screen that leads to better decisions in a shorter timeframe.

Supplier relationship

The next step: focus on supplier performance itself. The team realized that feeding critical information back to suppliers about IKEA's decision-making process would generate a "supplier race." Suppliers compete with each other through greater intelligence on their position relative to others, IKEA's green goals, and what they can do to improve. The feedback also improves the value of the data process for the suppliers themselves, incentivizing participation. The intent is to boost performance across the entire industry, not just the suppliers picked for catalogue production.

As one IKEA purchaser discovered: "Suppliers started using it to make the case for investment with their management or Board," showing how increased insight in decision-making already influences companies up the supply chain.

Results

Between FY14 and FY16:

• CO2 emissions per catalogue copy dropped 28%
• Energy consumption per copy went down 5%
• Renewable energy use increased 30%
• Water consumption diminished 35% in the last year alone

For a project completed in less than a year, it makes an exemplary case for the systemic approach to performance improvements in sustainability, efficiency, and financial performance.

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Takeaway

SiD is structured in four nested layers (Theory, Method, Process, Tools) and grounded in three survival requirements: Resilience, Autonomy, and Harmony (RAH). The alien colony thought experiment reveals why all three matter, and why understanding system dynamics between them is the difference between flourishing and collapse. The IKEA case study shows what this looks like in practice: small systemic interventions producing outsized results.

Next up: The Theory chapter defines the foundational concepts in full, starting with what "sustainability" actually means in the SiD framework.