Where the System Begins — and Ends
Where does a system actually begin…
… and where does it end?
It sounds simple.
But it isn’t.
Because systems don’t come with clear edges.
They are defined by what you include.
And what you leave out.
The Boundary is the Decision
Take something simple.
A factory.
What’s the system?
Is it the machines?
The workflow?
The people inside the building?
Or does it include:
- Sourcing?
- Demand?
- Distribution?
- Customer behavior?
Each answer draws a different boundary.
And each boundary produces a different explanation for the same outcome.
Change the Boundary, Change the Story
If output drops, what caused it?
Inside the factory:
- A machine slowed down.
- A process broke.
- A person made a mistake.
↔️ Expand the boundary.
Now include the organization:
- Demand shifted.
- Suppliers changed.
- Inputs became inconsistent.
↔️ Expand again.
Consider the surrounding market:
- A new competitor entered.
- Technology changed.
- Customer expectations evolved.
Same outcome.
Different boundary.
Different system view.
Different explanation.
Most solution failures don’t begin with bad solutions.
They begin with explanations shaped by boundaries that are too small to reveal the whole problem.
Change the Story, Change the Response
Once the explanation changes…
The response usually changes too.
If the problem is inside the factory —
- Repair the machine.
- Improve the process.
- Train the worker.
If the problem is outside the factory —
- Strengthen suppliers.
- Revisit forecasting.
- Adapt to changing demand.
Expand the boundary again —
Now the conversation becomes:
- Should the product change?
- Should the strategy change?
- Should the business itself change?
Every boundary tells a truth… but not the whole truth.
Nothing inside the factory changed.
Only the boundary did.
This is Where Misdiagnosis Begins
Most problems are not misunderstood because people are wrong.
They’re misunderstood because the boundary is too small.
What gets labeled as:
- A performance issue
- A behavior problem
- A process failure
May simply be:
A system viewed in isolation.
➖
Traffic is a system too.
You’re sitting in traffic.
You can see the car in front of you.
Then the next one.
Then three more.
They all look the same. Not moving.
So you stand on the roof of your car.
Now you can see nearly a mile ahead.
Nothing about the traffic changed.
Only your boundary did.
And only then do you begin to understand why you aren’t moving.
👉 Change the boundary and the explanation updates.
Systems within Systems
Systems rarely exist in isolation.
They exist within other systems.
Systems within systems, within systems.
You are always looking at one layer.
And that layer is chosen.
Sometimes intentionally.
Sometimes without realizing it.
This idea isn’t unique to MNKY Math.
The well-known “5 Whys” method follows a similar instinct—keep expanding the inquiry rather than accepting the first explanation.
MNKY Math borrows that habit, recognizing that every boundary reveals something useful. Modifying the boundary isn’t about proving the first explanation wrong. It’s about discovering whether a better one exists.
A system that looks like a failure at one boundary…
May make perfect sense at another.
Why this Matters
When something feels off, the instinct is to look closer.
But sometimes the answer isn’t inside.
Sometimes it’s just beyond the boundary you’ve drawn.
So when something doesn’t make sense, maybe also ask:
What am I not including in how I’m seeing this system?
That question alone can change what you see.
The guardrail to hang with
Many solutions fail before they’re ever implemented.
They fail the moment we mistake a partial explanation for the whole system.
Because the system isn’t fixed.
The boundary is.
👉 And the boundary is a choice.
Challenge
A team is missing deadlines.
Is the system:
- the team?
- the process
- the priorities being set?
- the environment they’re operating in?
What changes depending on what you include?
The companion discussion on LinkedIn includes the MNKY Math take and is where the conversation continues — see how it compares to yours.
Reference:
- The 5 Whys method was developed within the early thinking that became the Toyota Production System, building on work associated with Sakichi Toyoda and later popularized by Taiichi Ohno as a practical approach to root-cause investigation.
Continue the publishing sequence
Once we've chosen a boundary, we still need a way to make sense of what we see. That's where math enters the picture.
This essay also connects to
- Boundary Analysis, a MNKY Math definition