[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# System Seeing Adventure – Day 3: Explore System Concepts

## Details

**Authors** Prill, Patrick

**Year** 2025

**Publisher** Test Pappy

**Kind of work** press

**Discipline** Computer Science & AI

**Secondary disciplines** Systems Science

**Kind of engagement** public

**Applied** false

[Read it](https://testpappy.wordpress.com/2025/01/16/system-seeing-adventure-day-3-explore-system-concepts/)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To compare the vocabularies for system concepts the author has worked with, setting Donella Meadows's elements against the four DSRP patterns, as the third entry in a daily series on learning to see systems.

### How they did it (methods)

A short blog post structured as a comparison. Prill summarizes the Meadows vocabulary he has used for about a decade, then sets out each of the four patterns in his own words, using abstract placeholders rather than a case from his own practice.

### What they found (results)

Prill states a present preference for DSRP, crediting the Cabrera Lab podcast as one of the best things that happened to him in 2024, and claims the four patterns always co-exist and make complex systems easier to dissect and understand. He values the Meadows vocabulary too, for describing systems simply, and does not formally rank the two. He leaves open whether time is a separate dimension or a kind of perspective.

## Commentary

### In short

A software tester compares Donella Meadows's system concepts with the four DSRP patterns, explains each pattern in his own words, and reports that he now prefers DSRP for organizing information into mental models.

### In more detail

Prill begins from Meadows's Thinking in Systems, read a decade earlier, whose basic elements he gives as stocks, inflow and outflow, with actors, feedback loops and motivations, and notes that these few elements describe a lot of systems simply. He then writes that 'What I'm more a fan of at the moment is the DSRP approach from Derek and Laura Cabrera,' which he found through their podcast, and that 'You can organize information with those four patterns to form mental models.' He takes each pattern in turn. Distinctions 'means what is and what is not,' and he adds that you describe the boundaries of the system, of the model, and of certain elements — making the point that describing what is outside sharpens what is inside. Systems 'stands for elements of the model,' 'divided into whole and parts,' with every element splittable into its parts, which lets a reader zoom in and out. Relationships 'is about the action and reaction between elements,' and he observes that this is where complexity becomes visible, once one sees how many elements are connected in any system. Perspectives 'is about point of view of the system,' and he notes that 'The perspective can be from anywhere in and around the system,' including from an element or from a relationship. He closes with the claim that 'These four patterns will always co-exist.'

### Response

Prill states all four patterns accurately, with the identity-other and part-whole pairs intact, and gets right the two points most often lost in secondary accounts. The first is that a perspective can be taken from anywhere in or around a system, including from an element or a relationship, rather than belonging only to a human observer. The second is that the patterns co-exist rather than running in sequence, which is what distinguishes the theory from a four-step method. His open question about time is answered within the theory: a temporal view is a perspective taken on a system, which is why before-and-after can be distinguished without adding a fifth pattern. The post explains the patterns abstractly, with placeholder elements rather than an example from testing practice, so it shows what the four are without showing them at work. One defect: the DSRP hyperlink points to the Wikipedia page for Thinking in Systems rather than to DSRP.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R, P

**Added** 2026-10-19

**How to cite this** Prill, Patrick (2025). System Seeing Adventure – Day 3: Explore System Concepts. Test Pappy.