Rich picture building in the soft systems methodology

This paper examines the nature of rich picture building and its role within soft systems methodology. From an examination of published literature and accounts of the use of the methodology it is found that there is little agreement as to what is meant by ‘building a rich picture of the problem situation’. It is found that there is confusion about whether a ‘rich picture’ is considered to be an abstract, conceptual understanding of a problem situation or a literal diagram, about whether rich picture diagrams are a requirement of SSM and about their content and format. This paper identifies possible reasons for this confusion and discusses issues arising from it. A final section provides recommendations for the teaching of soft systems methodology.