So it's complex, why do I care?

Abstract

Systems engineering is especially difficult today because the systems that are being engineered are more complex than ever before. But why does it matter that systems are complex, and what should the engineering community do about complexity? Although there is a great deal of discussion about precisely what complexity is, and how complexity can be identified and measured, this chapter skirts those issues to focus on how engineers should cope with complexity. The critical aspect of complexity to the systems engineer is the way it interferes with prediction of design outcomes, a fundamental obstacle to the essentially deterministic methods of systems engineering. Transdisciplinary strategies are proposed for engineering complex systems, particularly a structured approach that encourages experimentation, at least on a small scale, to win some insight into the outcomes of complex behavior.