Not especially, although being able to comprehend rules and structure is a biproduct of systems-level thinking. However, the "non-linear" part of my definition also implied an ability to question, circumvent or simply ignore such systems as well, and includes the ability to reason within a set of rules without believing that set of rules to be accurate or true.
Systems and rulesets can be a useful method to structure memory and reason, but being bound by them is detrimental to long-term correctness and comprehension. Being able to write syntactically-correct programs is useful, but neither necessary nor sufficient to be an excellent programmer. A meta-understanding of the effect such syntax has on the program at hand is more useful than always correctly following it.
Systems and rulesets can be a useful method to structure memory and reason, but being bound by them is detrimental to long-term correctness and comprehension. Being able to write syntactically-correct programs is useful, but neither necessary nor sufficient to be an excellent programmer. A meta-understanding of the effect such syntax has on the program at hand is more useful than always correctly following it.