OECUMENE
Governance Architecture для Complex Business Systems
Lenses
Lenses as Tools for Understanding Complex Systems
In the OECUMENE model, lenses are used to explore complex systems from different perspectives.
A lens is not the system itself.
It is a tool that helps reveal:
- hidden relationships;
- structures;
- patterns;
- opportunities for development.
The Place of Lenses in the OECUMENE Model
Lenses are at the level:
HOW? · How?
HOW asks:
How is this realized?
Through:
- Architecture
- Methods
- Practices
- Frameworks
- Processes
- Tools
- Technologies
Lenses are one class of tools for understanding and analyzing systems.
WHY → HOW → WHAT
OECUMENE uses the causal model:
WHY
Why does this matter?
Why does the system exist?
Why has this path been chosen?
↓
HOW
How is this realized?
Architecture
Methods
Practices
Frameworks
Processes
Tools
Technologies
↓
WHAT
What emerges as a result of realizing WHY through the architecture, methods, and practices of HOW?
Disciplines
Capabilities
Practices
What is a Lens?
A Lens is a way of examining a system through a particular perspective.
The same system can be explored through different lenses.
Each lens helps reveal:
- particular relationships;
- particular structures;
- particular opportunities;
- particular constraints.
Why Lenses Are Needed
Complex systems cannot be understood through a single perspective.
Lenses allow us to:
- change the perspective of analysis;
- discover hidden elements of the system;
- explore relationships between parts;
- create new models of understanding.
Lenses and Architecture
Lenses help explore the architecture of a system.
They allow us to ask:
- Why is the system designed this way?
- How do the elements interact?
- What capabilities does the architecture create?
- What changes are possible?
Working Lenses of OECUMENE
The current model uses the following lenses:
Gharajedaghi Lens
A systems thinking lens for exploring complex systems.
It helps examine:
- system wholeness;
- interdependence of elements;
- interactions;
- emergent properties.
More:
Archipelago Lens
A lens for exploring a system as a network of interconnected intellectual assets.
It helps examine:
- individual elements;
- relationships between elements;
- emerging opportunities;
- development of new assets.
More:
Lenses as Intellectual Tools
In OECUMENE, lenses are intellectual assets.
They can develop through:
- describing concepts;
- creating models;
- practical application;
- developing new relationships with other assets.
Recursiveness
Any lens can be considered through:
WHY → HOW → WHAT
For example:
WHY:
Why is this perspective important?
↓
HOW:
How does the lens help analyze the system?
↓
WHAT:
What new insights, models, and practices emerge?
Working Position of OECUMENE
Lenses do not provide a single answer.
They expand the system’s ability to ask better questions and see new possibilities.
The central question is:
Which perspectives enable a better understanding of the system and the development of its ability to create value?
