What is Systems Thinking in the AI Era?

Systems Thinking in the AI Era is a 4-course series that teaches the universal framework for understanding how systems work. You'll master 7 universal building blocks + 3 external entities through hands-on discovery labs, real-world case studies, and system design challenges. Whether you're an engineer, data scientist, or technical leader, this develops architectural decision-making skills that let you direct AI tools effectively.

How many courses are in the series?

4 courses total: I: The Universal Building Blocks, II: Content Systems, III: Real-Time Systems, IV: Business Integration Systems. Courses II-IV are available at early-bird pricing while videos are being recorded. Course I is the required foundation for all other courses.

What are the 7 universal building blocks?

The 7 universal building blocks are: Service (request/response), Worker (background processing), Key-Value Store (caching), File Store (media storage), Queue (messaging), Relational Database (structured data), and Vector Database (AI/similarity search). These interface patterns power Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Gmail, and every system you use daily.

How does system thinking help me work with AI?

AI tools excel at implementation but require human guidance for architectural decisions. System thinkers understand when to use which building block patterns, how to compose them for specific requirements, and how to evolve systems over time. This high-level thinking lets you direct AI tools effectively—you make the architectural decisions while AI helps with implementation.

How much does the course series cost?

Course I is $99. Courses II-IV are $114 each (early-bird, normally $149). Start with the free preview, then enroll in Course I: The Universal Building Blocks. Each course is purchased individually as you progress through the series.

Do I need programming experience?

Yes, you should be comfortable reading and understanding code. The course focuses on system design and architectural thinking rather than teaching programming fundamentals. If you can implement features but struggle with architectural decisions like 'How would you design Instagram?', this course is perfect for you.

How much time does Course I take to complete?

Course I is designed as a 10-week experience, with 1-2 hours of content per week. This includes 12 video lessons, 2 interactive Python labs, comprehensive assessment, and a 3-part system design challenge. The course is self-paced—you can move faster if you'd like. All content remains accessible forever.

Who is the instructor?

Kay Ashaolu is a Continuing Lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Information with 10+ years teaching experience, and an Engineering Manager with 15+ years industry experience at Pinterest, AncestryDNA, and Morgan Stanley. He holds degrees from Princeton University (B.S.E. Electrical Engineering) and UC Berkeley (M.I.M.S.). His research focuses on accelerating professional growth for early-career software engineers.

Free · for team leads

Run a systems-thinking workshop with your team

A turnkey 90-minute session that gets your whole team seeing systems through the same lens — built entirely on the free framework. No prep required beyond this kit.

One shared vocabulary

By the end, your team describes any system with the same 7 building blocks and 3 forces — design reviews stop talking past each other.

Judgment, at team scale

The exercise surfaces where smart engineers disagree on a block choice. That disagreement is the judgment conversation worth having together.

The AI-era framing

AI writes the code; your team's edge is the call. This session makes "what should we build and why" a muscle the whole team trains.

The 90-minute agenda

Time	Segment	What happens
0–10	Why this, why now	Frame the shift: AI writes the code, judgment is the job. (Talking points in the kit.)
10–25	The 7 blocks + 3 forces	Quick walkthrough; everyone skims the overview. (Cheat sheet in the kit.)
25–55	Group exercise	Play the building-blocks game together, or decompose a system your team actually owns.
55–80	Debrief	"Where did we disagree on a block choice?" — the judgment conversation. (Prompts in the kit.)
80–90	Go deeper	How the team builds real judgment together from here.

Get the full facilitator kit

Talking points, discussion prompts, the printable cheat sheet, and both exercise variants — free. Drop your work email and we'll also share how teams run the deeper cohort.

Facilitator guide

0–10 · Why this, why now

Open with the shift: AI can write the code now, faster than any of us. What it can't do is decide what to build or tell you whether a design is right. That judgment is the team's real edge — and it's learnable. Today is one rep.

10–25 · The 7 blocks + 3 forces

Walk the cheat sheet below. Have everyone open the framework or watch the short overview. Keep it fast — the goal is shared vocabulary, not mastery.

Service — runs while the user waits

Worker — runs in the background

Key-Value Store — fast lookup by ID

File Store — blobs (photos, video)

Queue — async messages between blocks

Relational DB — structured rows + relationships

Vector DB — similarity search for AI

3 forces — User waiting · External Service · Time

25–55 · Group exercise (pick one)

Option A — warm-up: play the building-blocks game together on a screen-share. Design Instagram, Netflix, or Uber as a group; pause on each block choice and ask "why that one?"

Option B — your own system (higher relevance): pick a service your team owns. Whiteboard it from the forces inward: Who's waiting? What can fail? What runs on a schedule? Then place the blocks. Let people argue.

55–80 · Debrief — the judgment conversation

This is the point of the whole session. Prompts:

Where did we disagree on which block to use? What was the real tradeoff underneath?
Which choice was non-obvious — and what would tell us we got it wrong in production?
Where has AI handed us a design that "worked" but we couldn't tell if it was right?
What would change if traffic 10x'd tomorrow?

80–90 · Go deeper

Name it for the team: vocabulary is free and we just got it. Judgment comes from doing this under real constraints, repeatedly, with feedback — that's what the cohort is.

Take the team further

The workshop gives your team the shared lens. The team cohort builds the judgment — graded design challenges, hands-on labs, and feedback on your team's actual decisions, run together over four weeks.

See the team cohort →