The chapters (articles) presented in this book are meant to represent my thinking around the systemic structure of knowledge-as represented by theories, models, policy models, strategic plans, and so on (we will use these terms interchangeably). The most important idea here is that knowledge is more useful (for understanding, making effective decisions, communication, collaboration, planning, and reaching goals) when it is more systemic-more structured.


When I began in this field that idea of systemic structure existed; however, it was not very well developed. It was difficult or impossible to look at two theories and decide which one had the best structure (and so would be the most useful). My efforts were focused therefore on understanding the underlying structure-what is it that makes any (and all) theoretical knowledge useful. After 14 years of effort (and the writing of this book) I have reached a good stopping point. Rather than a set of loose axioms, the field now has Integrative Propositional Analysis (IPA); a clear and simple method for evaluating the structure of knowledge, along with a few other methods that are a bit more complex but also effective for advancing useful knowledge.


In the following sections, I reflect briefly on some key articles, how they represent steps forward in my thinking. My main hope here is to provide some stepping stones for those who might want to understand and/or follow this path. And, from a broader perspective, support those who want to study how thinking evolves.