Patterns for achieving resilience in engineered and organizational systems

Abstract

This chapter examines how human-created systems in civil and organizational domains maintain their required capability to function effectively in the face of adversity and identifies the factors that enable these systems to remain resilient. Typical civil systems include power grid systems and transportation systems, such as aircraft. Organizational systems include enterprises and governments. Adversities include natural disasters and terrorist attacks. A recurring pattern in all domains is the ability to anticipate and prepare for adversity. Another recurring pattern is the ability for the system to adapt to the adversity. Some resilient systems can withstand adversity and then degrade gracefully to a satisfactory state, return to a prior state, or change to some new state. Both domains utilize a set of techniques to achieve resilience. These recurring patterns are common to both domains and are essential to the resilience of diverse systems.