What is Systems Design?

An useful definition to be aware of for my own process and the overlap that software developers have found themselves in. The lack of clarity that has gone before and continues to go on in the understanding of the system design I feel is connected to the thoughts of Alan Cooper and the goal directed design process. (More thoughts on Goal directed design documented in the next post)

The following text is the pre-edited version of an interview of Hugh Dubberly by Dan Saffer. The interview was performed via email in February of 2006, and was later published in Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices.

What is system design?

Systems design is simply the design of systems. It implies a systematic and rigorous approach to design—an approach demanded by the scale and complexity of many systems problems.

Where did it come from?

Systems design first appeared shortly before World War II as engineers grappled with complex communications and control problems. They formalized their work in the new disciplines of information theory, operations research, and cybernetics. In the 1960s, members of the design methods movement (especially Horst Rittel and others at Ulm and Berkeley) transferred this knowledge to the design world.

(This can be used in the background in the literature review)

Systems design continues to flourish at schools interested in design planning and within the world of computer science. Among its most important legacies is a research field known as design rationale, which concerns systems for making and documenting design decisions.

What can designers learn from system design?

Today, ideas from design methods and systems design may be more relevant to designers than ever before—as more and more designers collaborate on designing software and complex information spaces. Frameworks suggested by systems design are especially useful in modeling interaction and conversation. They are also useful in modeling the design process itself.

This is significant to the IEAT process in order to ask and further test my own ideas against how system design communicates the information in the design process?

What is the most important thing to be aware of in system design

A system design approach asks

For this situation, what is the system?

• What is the environment?
• What goal does the system have in relation to its environment?
• What is the feedback loop by which the system corrects its actions?
• How does the system measure whether it has achieved its goal?
• Who defines the system, environment, goal, etc.—and monitors it?
• What resources does the system have for maintaining the relationship it desires?
• Are its resources sufficient to meet its purpose?

A initial comparison draw from this and applied to the IEAT process?

A systems approach to design asks: - to help provide questions/perspective for a developer ?

• For this situation, what is the information ecology?
• What is the ecology?
• this asks what goal does the system have in relation to its information ecology?
• What is the feedback loop by which the system corrects its actions?
• How does the system measure whether it has achieved its goal?
• Who defines the system, environment, goal, etc.—and monitors it?
• What resources does the system have for maintaining the relationship it desires?
• Are its resources sufficient to meet its purpose?

Is system design incompatible with the user centered design approach?

A systems approach to design is entirely compatible with a user-centered approach. Indeed, the core of both approaches is understanding user goals. A systems approach looks at users in relation to a context and in terms of their interaction with devices, with each other, and with themselves.

What is the relationship between system design and Cybernetics?

Cybernetics (the science of feedback) provides an approach to systems and a set of frameworks and tools. Among the most important ideas for designers:

• Definition of a system depends on point of view (subjectivity)
• We are responsible for our actions (ethical stance)
• All interaction is a form of conversation
• All conversation involves goals, understandings, and agreements

Are there times when a system design approach is inappropriate?

A systems approach to design is most appropriate for projects involving large systems or systems of systems. Such projects typically involve many people, from many disciplines, working together over an extended period of time. They need tools to cope with their project’s complexity: to define goals, facilitate communications, and manage processes. Solo designers working on small projects may find the same tools a bit cumbersome for their needs.

- A difference noted here is that system design deals with 'projects involving large
systems or systems of systems.' With the information ecology the purpose is to reduce down the complexities and have the focus upon the information movement within the ecology.

Will the IEAT process required similar identification to say when and when not it is
appropriate for the perspective of selling the idea to a software developer, interaction designer?