David Connis: Systems Thinking for Content Designers – Episode 196

David Connis A crucial skill for any content practitioner is the ability to sort out complex work environments and thrive within them. David Connis shows how a systems thinking mindset can help you cope with the upheaval of AI, the messy realities of content work, and other complex design challenges. He teaches a course on systems thinking for content designers but shows how any content or design practitioner can benefit from a systematic approach to their work. We talked about: his role as as a lead content designer on the design systems team at OutSystems how he discovered his innate focus on systems thinking in a Netflix documentary about chefs how a brief stint as a UX developer and his holistic approach to design work revealed the benefits of systems thinking the role of systems thinking in his growth and development as a content leader his observation that "work is weird" his approach to remote working and management the crucial role of facilitation in remote work how his personal growth and professional growth intersect the importance of being intentional in your approach to work and leadership his observation that "everything you do influences everything you do" how he links words and concepts and objects in his work and how they help digital products tell their story to the user his advice to systems thinking course at the UX Content Collective Dave's bio During a brief stint as a junior UX developer, Dave found that he loved the UX part more than the development part, so he took a job as a technical writer. From there, he discovered content design. Now, he’s a Lead Content Designer at OutSystems. Connect with Dave online LinkedIn Instagram Systems thinking resources Systems Thinking for UX Content workshop at UX Content Collective Thinking in Systems, Donella Meadows Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, Sheryl Cababa (interview) Systems Thinking for a Better World, Peter Senge Video Here’s the video version of our conversation: https://youtu.be/XAgcKmOOZ3I Podcast intro transcript This is the Content Strategy Insights podcast, episode number 196. As everyone tries to cope with onslaught of AI and as content practitioners try to develop the right combination of strategy, design, and people skills, Dave Connis says we can all benefit from a systems thinking mindset. Whether you're connecting the words and concepts and objects in digital products or connecting the people who are building the product experience, a holistic view of your work can help everyone involved understand the ecosystem you share. Interview transcript Larry: Yeah. Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 196 of the Content Strategy Insights podcast. I'm really delighted today to welcome to the show, Dave Connis. Dave is lead content designer at OutSystems. I believe you're based in Portugal, but you're in the US, right, Dave? Dave: Yes, that is accurate. Yep. Larry: Tell folks a little bit more about... Dave: There is an office in Boston, so it's kind of US-ey, but it's mainly Portugal. Larry: Nice. And as a lead content designer there, you do... Well, tell me a little bit about your role there, what kind of stuff you're working on and... Dave: Yeah, so I am on the design system team. So we're working on all sorts of patterns and lots of systems thinking, lots of components, design tokens. We're in the middle of redoing design tokens right now. I'm doing a lot of content pattern things, lots of content strategy, working with a bunch of cross-functional teams to get stuff done that is reusable and scalable and all the nice other cool, buzzy words that we like to talk about all the time. So it's always something different, always something new, and it's always a big challenge, so it's good time. Larry: Well, that's interesting. So I'm really curious now because I've worked on a few design systems and talked to a lot of peop...