As if it really matters at this point.

I’m not entirely sure what a systems analyst is or does but if I were to make a guess I’d say it is a person who examines the individual components and inter-connected relationships of those components within a system in an effort to search out weak links and then provide ways of improving the process.

 

            For example, let’s pick out one system and see what we find.  How about something we all can relate to, like food.  We’ll start off with just a sketchy overview.  We’ll begin with the farmer.  The farmer is a highly educated person who uses his knowledge of soil, weather patterns, chemicals, supply and demand, as well as equipment to produce his product.

            Of course there are a multitude of variables that follow, depending on the type of crops the farmer produces, but as this is just a sketchy overview we’ll just say the next step in our system is processing.  The science of processing has evolved greatly over the years, adding safety and product life to the things we consume.

            We can combine packaging and marketing into one category, even though they are very different and complex systems, each having their own sophisticated structures and disciplines. Anyone working in either of these fields must have excelled in psychology and engineering respectively.   

 

            A key component to all this is transportation.  We have to get the product to market and it is all very expensive and time sensitive.  We could spend an entire year examining this system alone.

 

            The supermarket, with its rows and rows of well-lit shelves is a computer controlled environment and must be a clean and inviting place, staffed with a management team that watches over all aspects of the business, from inventory control, and stock rotation and presentation to customer service and everything in between.

 

            This brings us to the bagboy or packer of your order; usually a high school student whose thoughts are on everything but the task at hand.  He or she has had very little education and absolutely no training.  They stand unaware of the effects of gravity, Newton’s Laws, the theories of cause and effect or anything about structural integrity. They remain oblivious to the item their hand has just grabbed and shoved onto the soft and very susceptible loaf of bread.

            Unconcerned with the damage, destruction and havoc they’re about to wreak on your groceries, they stare ahead blankly, without so much as a spark of awareness - mentally practicing their line; “Paper or plastic?”