Designing Thriving Systems

Marrying Technical Rationality and Appreciative Systems

verfasst von: Prof. Leslie J. Waguespack

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Über dieses Buch

This monograph illuminates a design mindset for systems, artefacts, that not only survive, but thrive.
Of itself an artefact is devoid of design quality – until encountered in a specific social context by human attendants. Design quality is the affect of an intertwining of (a) an artefact’s structural and behavior properties, (b) an attendant humanly conception of quality, an appreciative system, and (c) the enfolding social context of their encounter. To pursue quality in design is to interweave these three strands bound as a durable cord that evokes a visceral satisfaction – or “the delight of a ringing musical chord.”
The human consciousness of design quality is fundamentally metaphoric and dynamic – a perception of reality mediated by a personal value disposition. In the continuum of experience, living moment after moment, both the attendant’s metaphorical appreciation and their sense of quality evolve. And thus, design quality issues from perpetual, concentric cycles of design-construct-experience-learn-assess-calibrate over the life span of relationship with an artefact.
Design-as-a-verb’s purpose is to service the life in that relationship, sustain its survival, and hopefully, raise that life to a state of thriving. Design quality manifests throughout the cycles of design-as-a-verb, rather than as a product of it. Such is the mindset in which the designer must indwell and that design education must nurture.
While all artefacts are systems, the domain of artefact design of which I am most experienced is computing systems. Therefore, I will rest upon that domain to explore a theory and practice of design-as-a-verb – designing thriving systems.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

In the earliest documented attempt to articulate design quality, circa 30–20 BC, Vitruvius believed that an architect should focus on three central themes in preparing a design for the construction of a building: firmitas (strength), utilitas (functionality), and venustas (beauty). ANSI-ISO 9001:2015 approaches that quality from a process perspective that delineates quality management principles: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management. Although separated by two millennia, both focus attention on the encounter between human and artefact to define design quality – the affect of the artefact’s agency on their behalf. That agency encompasses beliefs, moods, feelings, and attitudes. John Heskett may have offered the most expansive, yet concise, characterization of that agency of design.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 2. The Brain of Two Hemispheres

Abstract

The realm of design, both in terms of appreciating extant artefacts (design-as-a-noun) and the practice of inventing artefacts (design-as-a-verb) is a distinctly human behavior. The physiology of the brain exhibits a clear and definite bifurcation referred to as the left and right hemispheres. After millennia of evolution the two hemispheres have developed distinct, but complementary modes of intellectual behavior. Their distinctness of orientation and conceptualization plays an important role in the processing of our sensory experience (in-the-world) and our conceptualization that impacts recognition, interpretation, and decision making (of-the-world).

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 3. A Marriage of Technical Rationality and Appreciative Systems

Abstract

Designing Thriving Systems is about the conception, construction, and evaluation of human-made objects, artefacts. The practice of design in the computing arena has traditionally followed the lead of its ancestral disciplines in the natural sciences founded on the premise of technical rationality. But, technical rationality presupposes that decisions (design decisions) result from a calculation of objective variables, facts. And indeed, if mathematics is the domain, then 4 may be the “correct” solution to “? = 2 + 2.” But, much of design rests upon the evaluation of quality rather than some quantity as design actions are chosen from among alternative design options. The evaluation of quality is often more subjective than objective. This aspect of design behavior defies calculation and distinguishes design from problem-solving. This chapter explores the nature of artefact quality and the interplay of objective and subjective quality in designing thriving systems.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 4. Reflection-Driven Design

Abstract

This chapter presents a recipe for design-as-a-verb as a reflective conversation. The recipe employs the medium of construction guided by a composite appreciative system of the invested stakeholders. The terms “recipe” and “conversation” steer clear of any appearance of prescription. Both terms connote a sense of “becoming” rather than consummation. In that sense, the focus is on design as a “living cycle” rather than a final product of construction. At its core, the “becoming” conversation manifests the paradigm reminiscent of Agile development process models where refining the goals of the development project depends upon a conversation among designers and stakeholders. For example, in Scrum the product owner, Scrum master, and development team cooperate in artefact emergence by repeatedly assessing and adjusting the product backlog and sprint planning to react to the progressive learning and refinement of the project goals among the stakeholders. This chapter first presents the reflection-driven design recipe as it has evolved. Then a synopsis of its origin in the analysis of code refactoring examines the role of Thriving Systems Theory in emancipating an operative appreciative system.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 5. Generative Metaphor: Names, Frames, and Concept Displacement

Abstract

The science in design is indivisibly intertwined by artefact and theory through the neurophysiology and neuropsychology of metaphor. Metaphor is easily taken for granted – it is so pervasive, natural, and tacitly intrinsic to human verbal and written communication. But, its naturalness belies its formative role in cognition and ideation. Metaphor, epitomized by generative metaphor, engenders the capacity to proffer novel and innovative interpretations of intensions; to suggest creative perspectives that unearth artefact features that resonate with stakeholders’ genuine intensions. Generative metaphor is the quiddity of design. Metaphor is an instinctual lens for conceptualizing and refining the mapping of artefact features onto stakeholder intensions.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 6. Ontology’s Role in Reflection-Driven Design

Abstract

The discourse on design of thriving systems has thus far focused on the foundation of theory that examines the neurological, psychological, and sociological context of design – the case for metaphor’s essential role in ideation. To assume a practitioner’s perspective, a pragmatic perspective on design, our focus shifts to the palpable steps that distinguish the reflection-driven design recipe. Indeed, as part and parcel of reflection-driven design, the design team must identify and conceptualize the fixed and mutable elements of their design space. These elements include the environment, the intensions, and the medium of construction. These elements will be understood and valued based upon a shared expectation of design quality rooted in their composite appreciative system. To demonstrate some palpable detail, this chapter presents five example design spaces each depicting a special ontology that enumerates a paradigm relevant to information systems development. Each respective ontology defines a design space as the domain of possible structural and behavioral choices available to the designer(s).

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 7. TST Choice Properties Extruded Through Mediums of Construction

Abstract

The Thriving Systems choice properties provide a lens through which the organizational and behavioral structure of an artefact can be examined and assessed. The properties reflect both objective (structural) and subjective (aesthetic) design characteristics. The objective characteristics reflect aspects of organization subject to counting and measurement while the subjective aspects attend to experiential, emotive, and (often tacit) affective human reactions. Each of the properties denotes an aspect of design with which to populate a lexicon of quality in the abstract to facilitate a reflective conversation. That conversation forms the narrative encompassing artefact conception, communication, and evaluation to engage the designing community. This chapter attempts to define, or at least describe, each of the fifteen properties by example by casting them each, individually, in various design spaces or construction paradigms.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 8. Security Design Quality Named and Framed Through TST Choice Property Clusters

Abstract

The previous chapter offered an exercise in “choice property affect” by illustrating the impact of strengthening a particular property individually in each of seven artefact domains. To explore the compounding of quality effects in property clusters, this chapter presents naming and framing a perspective of design quality on cybersecurity that “interprets” the clustered Thriving Systems choice properties. The design aspects entailing security are sourced from relevant literature of security, security design, and the challenges of cloud computing. Integrated through TST’s design clusters, those quality aspects offer a palpable depiction of the features prerequisite to stakeholder trust in cybersecurity.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Chapter 9. Educating Thriving Systems Designers

Abstract

With its origins deeply rooted in the natural sciences, computing education’s commitment to design has drawn largely from what Schön calls technical rationality, a presumption that design like any computation can be achieved algorithmically. In the narrowest of contexts this may be true but, in any practical, social sphere of relevance design is a truly “wicked problem!” Indeed, extensive effort has been invested in attempts at “design by computer” through artificial intelligence approaches, but none have demonstrated any semblance of the ingenuity or the quality, ascribed to successful human designers. This discourse contemplates a vision of design education based upon first principles of a designerly way of knowing specifically centered upon computing professionals. We review the “wicked” nature of design in computing and propose a pedagogical framework to provide the concepts and skills to seed design competency in the student aspiring to become a computing professional.

Leslie J. Waguespack

Backmatter

Titel: Designing Thriving Systems
verfasst von: Prof. Leslie J. Waguespack
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-03925-7
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03924-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03925-7