How Do Committees Invent?

The basic thesis of this article is that Organizations which design systems (in the broad sense used here) are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.

It may be less obvious that a Theory is a system in the same sense. It relates to the outside world of observed events where it must explain, or at least not contradict, them. It consists of subtheories which must relate to each other in the same way. For example, the investigation of an airplane crash attempts to produce a theory explaining a complex event. It can consist of subtheories describing the path of the aircraft, its radio communications, the manner of its damage, and its relationship to nearby objects at the time of the event. Each of these, in turn, is a Story in itself which can be further broken down into finer detail down to the level of individual units of evidence. >> theory story

Linear graphs. Fig. 1 illustrates this view of a system as a linear graph – a Tinker-Toy structure with branches (the lines) and nodes (the circles). Each node is a subsystem which communicates with other subsystems along the branches. In turn, each subsystem may contain a structure which may be similarly portrayed. The term interface, which is becoming popular among systems people, refers to the inter-subsystem communication path or branch represented by a line in Fig. 1. Alternatively, the interface is the plug or flange by which the path coming out of one node couples to the path coming out of another node. >> system linear graph interface

We have seen that this fact has important implications for the management of system design. Primarily, we have found a criterion for the structuring of design organizations: a design effort should be organized according to the need for Communication.

This criterion creates problems because the need to communicate at any time depends on the system concept in effect at that time. Because the design which occurs first is almost never the best possible, the prevailing system concept may need to change. Therefore, flexibility of organization is important to effective design.

Ways must be found to reward design managers for keeping their organizations lean and flexible. There is need for a philosophy of system design management which is not based on the assumption that adding manpower simply adds to productivity. The development of such a philosophy promises to unearth basic questions about value of resources and techniques of communication which will need to be answered before our system-building technology can proceed with confidence. >> lean philosophy system design management

CONWAY, Melvin E, 1968. How Do Committees Invent? Datamation, 14, 4 (April, 1968), pp. 28-31.