Whenever anything happens it happens because there is a viable system. Sometimes stuff happens unexpectedly: we didn’t know there was a system, but it turned out there was. Sometime we decide to be proactive and make stuff that we want to happen happen. This requires us to create a viable system.

Strip the world back to first principles, and we see that a ‘viable system’ contains a minimum number of pieces. Depending on how you cut up the jigsaw, that minimum number is six. TRIZ calls it the ‘Law Of System Completeness’. If we have an intention to deliberately and successfully change something, it requires a viable system and that viable system needs these six pieces:

Sometimes we think we’ve designed our change system to include them all. Sometimes we’re right and sometimes we’re wrong. Sometimes people tell us that we have all the pieces we need and still we don’t get the successful change we were expecting.

When our change attempt doesn’t go as well as we expected, it is because one or more of the pieces of our jigsaw are missing. Or not working properly.

The question, then, becomes which one. Or ones.

The best way to answer that question is to look at the symptoms we’re experiencing. Different symptoms come from different missing jigsaw pieces:

If the symptom is anarchy, the cause is a lack of shared vision about the change objectives.

If the symptom is constipation (lots of input, but no output), the cause is a lack of pressure for change from our intended customers.

If the symptom is getting stuck in cul-de-sacs, feeling paralysed and not knowing what to do next, the cause is a lack of relevant knowledge and/or brain-power within the team.

If the symptom is spinning wheels, the cause is lack of a realistic work plan.

If the symptom is everyone heading towards a nervous breakdown, the cause is a lack of capacity to execute.

If the symptom is random oscillation in directions or outcomes, the cause is a lack of relevant metrics.

If you have more than one symptom, the cause is a lack of understanding of systems in general and the Law of System Completeness specifically. Go directly to First-Principle-Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.