Soft Systems & Rich Notes: Karthik Suresh (Part 1)

In this podcast episode, Karthik Suresh walks us through his transition from an engineer to a management consultant and reflects on it using Rich Notes. He critiques traditional management for treating organizations like predictable machines, arguing instead that modern problems are complex human situations with conflicting perspectives. To navigate this "messiness," he developed Rich Notes, a visual technique that uses digital drawing to map mental models and facilitate better communication.

He highlights how this approach moved his clients from confusion to action by focusing on purpose and shared understanding rather than just rigid goals. Karthik also reflects on influential literature, such as "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", to emphasize that creative thinking and artistic inquiry are essential tools for improving real-world issues.

This podcast episode is a visual treat - a MUST WATCH for Silicon Valley executives.

Members of the Cyb3rSyn Community can watch/discuss the podcast episode on the www.cyb3rsynlabs.com portal or the mobile app (iOS and Android). The video is also on YouTube here 👇🏾

I was fascinated with Karthik’s journey, an engineer turned management consultant and researcher. As many of you know, living in Silicon Valley often means viewing the world through a mechanistic lens — we build machines, we code algorithms, and we try to "debug" organizations.

But what happens when the problem isn’t a bug in the code, but a conflict in human perspectives?

Karthik took us on an intriguing journey from the certainty of engineering to the messiness of humans through the lens of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). If you are a technologist trying to make sense of organizational chaos, this conversation is a must-watch. Here are the key insights and my reflections…

Karthik started his career the way many of us do: he loved building things. As an early employee at a startup, he thrived on creation. But after an acquisition, he found himself "wearing a suit" and running things, and he realized he was unhappy with how things were turning out.

The core issue, Karthik explained, is that engineers are trained to operate in a world where problems have clear solutions. We build a tool, we fix the bug, we move on. But management is different. The "big problems of the world" are usually filled with people who are simply not happy with each other.

Traditional management often fails because it relies on ideas from the 1950s - treating an organization like a machine that exists in objective reality. You think you can just set a goal and execute a plan. But as Karthik noted, "Anybody who just says, 'Yes, you can achieve objectives by just, you know, setting a goal, having a plan, and going after it,' has not ever set a real goal and gone after it".

So, how do you handle a room full of conflicting mental models? You draw!

During his MBA, Karthik discovered the works of Peter Checkland (SSM and Rich Pictures). He realized that drawing wasn't just about art; it was a tool for thinking.

He shared a great example from his consulting work in 2018. Companies were under pressure to deal with new carbon regulations but had no idea what to do. Instead of pitching a solution, Karthik said, "Tell me what you're thinking... I'll draw a rich picture of it".

This shifted the dynamic from a sales pitch to a collaborative exploration. By sketching out the situation digitally, he helped stakeholders visualize their own messiness. This practice evolved into what Karthik now calls "Rich Notes", a technique he is formally researching.

One of the hardest pivots for a Silicon Valley executive is letting go of the word "solve."

Karthik distinguished between the "manufacturing mindset" and the "service mindset." In manufacturing, success is about reducing variation - you want to make the exact same car every time. But in a service economy or a complex organization, you are dealing with high variety. You cannot standardize human behavior by writing down policies and procedures and expecting everyone to follow it accurately.

This is where Soft Systems Methodology comes in. It reframes the goal:

It sounds subtle, but it is profound. As Karthik explained, SSM is a learning journey. You enter a messy situation, use models to capture the complexity, and ask questions to find a way forward. You aren't engineering a final state; you are engineering a learning cycle.

We also discussed Karthik’s approach - he outlined three models:

Karthik advocates for the third approach. You have to "get involved in the situation and then understand it". It creates a partnership where you aren't just observing from an ivory tower; you are in the trenches, trying to align different perspectives - a sentiment that resonates deeply with my experience here in the Valley.

Toward the end, Karthik referenced one of his favorite books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It offers a beautiful definition of when a system is actually "fixed."

It isn't when the metrics hit a certain number. You know you've improved a situation when you have peace of mind. For us technologists, that is a refreshing qualitative lens.

If you are curious about what tools Karthik uses, please refer to this post on his website.

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week.