Holist-IQ is a web-based systems thinking tool that converts a plain-language description of a problem into a causal loop diagram showing the reinforcing and balancing feedback loops behind it.
What is Holist-IQ?
Holist-IQ is a browser-based causal loop diagram (CLD) tool. You describe a situation — a business trend, a policy question, a workplace pattern — in everyday words, and the app returns a visual map of the factors involved and the feedback loops connecting them, with reinforcing loops (which amplify momentum) and balancing loops (which push back toward a settling point) drawn on one diagram instead of a flat list. The mapping workspace runs at app.holist-iq.ch; the marketing site, showcase diagrams and blog sit on holist-iq.ch. Blog bylines credit both "Holist-IQ Team" and Aurum Avis Labs, and the cookie notice links to a privacy policy hosted on aurum-avis-labs.ch.
What makes Holist-IQ stand out?
- Feedback loop mapping — causes and effects are drawn as reinforcing (amplifying) or balancing (stabilizing) loops on a single map, rather than as a linear task list.
- AI-assisted analysis — the tool proposes patterns, loop labels and links from your written description; you decide which suggestions stay in the model.
- What-if scenarios — test a proposed intervention before committing, and compare options side by side.
- Live view of the system — follow how a change spreads through the map, including delays and knock-on effects that lag behind the first move.
- Leverage points — highlights nodes where a small change shifts a large part of the system.
- One map for the whole team — a single diagram everyone opens, so debate is about structure and assumptions rather than dueling spreadsheets.
- Prebuilt showcase diagrams — worked examples across Personal, Business, Workplace, Economy and Politics, including an anxiety escalation cycle, a product quality flywheel and an inflation-expectation spiral.
Who should use Holist-IQ?
- Strategy and operations teams: map why a quality, retention or revenue initiative stalls, then locate the loop that keeps it moving.
- Policy analysts: trace how a measure interacts with expectations, wages and prices before it is adopted.
- Investigative researchers: lay out actors and causal chains from a complex story on one diagram.
- Workshop facilitators and consultants: put one shared map in front of a group to agree on what is connected before a fix is chosen.
What can you do with Holist-IQ?
- Business strategy: describe a quality or growth problem in plain words and get a flywheel diagram in which satisfaction, loyalty, revenue and reinvestment reinforce each other.
- Economy and policy work: build an expectations loop — wage demands raising costs, costs raising prices, prices confirming expectations — and use scenarios to see where the cycle could be interrupted.
- Workplace design: map a flexibility policy through autonomy, happiness and engagement to judge whether any productivity gain is self-reinforcing or short-lived.
- Personal and social analysis: render cycles such as social media use, downward comparison, disrupted sleep and anxiety as reinforcing loops rather than a list of causes.
How does Holist-IQ work?
- Describe the situation in everyday words; Holist-IQ surfaces the main factors and how they influence each other over time.
- Your input becomes a causal loop diagram with reinforcing and balancing loops on one visual map.
- Inspect the map for escalation patterns, stabilizers and side effects.
- Run scenarios, find leverage points and trace ripple effects before acting.
Pricing
Holist-IQ uses credit-based pricing where 1 credit equals 1 chat message, and new accounts start with 10 free credits. Three packs are sold: Starter (20 credits, $5, email support), Popular (50 credits, $10, marked best value) and Pro (150 credits, $25, lowest price per credit). All packs include access to every feature, priority support on Popular and Pro, and no expiration date on credits.
FAQ
Is Holist-IQ free to try?
Signing up grants 10 free credits, and one credit equals one chat message, so the free allowance covers ten messages before you buy a pack such as Starter (20 credits) or Popular (50 credits).
Do the credits expire?
No. The pricing table lists "No expiration date" for all three packs, so unused credits stay in your account until they are spent, regardless of which pack you bought.
Do I need to be technical to use Holist-IQ?
It is built around describing a problem in everyday language rather than hand-drawing diagrams; AI suggests patterns, loop labels and links that you accept or reject, and the site addresses technical-skill concerns in its own FAQ.
What platform does Holist-IQ run on?
It is a web application: the mapping workspace runs in the browser at app.holist-iq.ch. The site does not list a desktop or mobile app, and it also publishes a blog covering causal loop diagram software and systems thinking for public policy.
