Making Sense of Elegant Complexity in Design

Lewis, Kemper

doi:10.1115/1.4023002

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(62 reference statements)

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“…Focussing on the design aspect of systems engineering, systems engineers can be considered as decision-makers whose task is to select the design that is most preferred based on evaluation of available options under risk and uncertainty (Hazelrigg 1996) or as enablers of elegant design (Griffin 2010). For a review of elegance and simplicity in LSCES and product design, see Lewis (2012); Watson et al (2014); Krayner & Katz (2018); Efatmaneshnik & Ryan (2019).…”

Section: Coordination In Systems Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the use of coordination strategies in complex engineered system design projects

2020

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Coordination of distributed design work is an important activity in large-scale and complex engineered systems (LSCES) design projects. Coordination strategies have been studied formally in system design optimization and organizational science. This article reports on a study to identify what strategies are used in coordination practice. While the literature primarily offers prescriptive coordination strategies, this study focussed on the contribution of individuals’ behaviours to system-level coordination. Thus, a coordination strategy is seen as a particular set of individual actions and behaviours. We interviewed professionals with expertise in systems engineering, project management and technical leadership at two large aerospace design organizations. Through qualitative thematic analysis, we identified two strategies used to facilitate coordination. The first we call authority-based and is enabled by technical know-how and the use of organizational authority; the second we call empathetic leadership and includes interpersonal skills, leadership traits and empathy. These strategies emerged as complementary and, together, enabled individuals to coordinate complex design tasks. We found that skills identified in competency models enable these coordination strategies, which in turn support management of interdependent work in the organization. Studying the role of individuals contributes an expanded view on how coordination facilitates LSCES design practice.

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Section: Coordination In Systems Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the use of coordination strategies in complex engineered system design projects

2020

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“…A great inspiration for this project is Mike Griffin's proposition that engineered systems should be "elegant, " defined as producing the intended result, being both robust and efficient, and generating a minimum of unintended consequences (Griffin 2010). This proposition sparked an interest in design elegance with several researchers (Madni 2018) ) (Lewis 2012). Building on this, a presentation at INCOSE IW 2019 suggested (a) that an extended list of non-functional "elegance factors" could be treated as general system attributes, and (b) argued for how relations between them can be distilled into general systems principles, laws, and models, thus providing grounds not only for a general theory of systems but also showing how such a general theory is relevant to achieving design elegance (Rousseau, Calvo-Amodio, and Billingham 2019).…”

Section: Towards a Scientific General Systems Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems Principles, Systems Science, and the Future of Systems Engineering

Rousseau

Calvo‐Amodio²

2019

INSIGHT

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The rise of complexity in engineered systems is radically increasing the risks in complex systems engineering projects. This rise is a challenge for systems engineering, which is still based on heuristics and not yet grounded in a general theory of systems. Such a theory is needed if systems engineering is to improve its methods, processes, and tools systematically. This article reviews ongoing initiatives to develop this foundation.

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“…However, the function of a product represents its operational purpose and is imperative to satisfy customer requirements [ 13 ] in order to ensure market success. In this respect, the product function in novel products is typically recognized at a late product development stage, resulting in time-consuming and costly interventions to avoid failures and ensure operational performance [ 14 ]. In addition, innovative technological systems may consist of multiple modules, each performing specific sub-functions and controlling a nexus of interrelations [ 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensor-Driven Human-Robot Synergy: A Systems Engineering Approach

Tsolakis

Γαστεράτος

2022

Sensors

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Knowledge-based synergistic automation is a potential intermediate option between the opposite extremes of manual and fully automated robotic labor in agriculture. Disruptive information and communication technologies (ICT) and sophisticated solutions for human-robot interaction (HRI) endow a skilled farmer with enhanced capabilities to perform agricultural tasks more efficiently and productively. This research aspires to apply systems engineering principles to assess the design of a conceptual human-robot synergistic platform enabled by a sensor-driven ICT sub-system. In particular, this paper firstly presents an overview of a use case, including a human-robot synergistic platform comprising a drone, a mobile platform, and wearable equipment. The technology framework constitutes a paradigm of human-centric worker-robot logistics synergy for high-value crops, which is applicable in operational environments of outdoor in-field harvesting and handling operations. Except for the physical sub-system, the ICT sub-system of the robotic framework consists of an extended sensor network for enabling data acquisition to extract the context (e.g., worker’s status, environment awareness) and plan and schedule the robotic agents of the framework. Secondly, this research explicitly presents the underpinning Design Structure Matrix (DSM) that systematically captures the interrelations between the sensors in the platform and data/information signals for enabling synergistic operations. The employed Systems Engineering approach provides a comprehensible analysis of the baseline structure existing in the examined human–robot synergy platform. In particular, the applied DSM allows for understanding and synthesizing a sensor sub-system’s architecture and enriching its efficacy by informing targeted interventions and reconfiguring the developed robotic solution modules depending on the required farming tasks at an orchard. Human-centric solutions for the agrarian sector demand careful study of the features that the particular agri-field possesses; thus, the insight DSM provides to system designers can turn out to be useful in the investigation of other similar data-driven applications.

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Making Sense of Elegant Complexity in Design

Cited by 20 publications

References 54 publications

On the use of coordination strategies in complex engineered system design projects

On the use of coordination strategies in complex engineered system design projects

Systems Principles, Systems Science, and the Future of Systems Engineering

Sensor-Driven Human-Robot Synergy: A Systems Engineering Approach

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