Engineering Systems in Flux: Designing and Evaluating Interventions in Dynamic Systems

This chapter discusses the threefold challenge of designing effective interventions in engineering systems that are constantly changing: (1) a designed socio-technical artefact should improve system performance not only under present conditions, but it must also be functional when conditions change, be it autonomously or due to interventions...

Risk, Uncertainty, and Ignorance in Engineering Systems Design

Uncertainty is the third major perspective in understanding and designing engineering systems, along with complexity and human behaviour. Risk, a corollary of uncertainty, is understood as the effect of uncertainty on objectives. When designing engineering systems, you cannot not manage risk - even ignoring risk equates to a decision to accept...

Asking Effective Questions: Awareness of Bias in Designerly Thinking

The formulation of questions in processes of design is an activity affected by cognitive biases inherent to humans. Cognitive biases, developed through gaining experience, influence how decisions are made during problem solving. When an outcome is predictable, experience provides mental shortcuts or heuristics to enable the problem solver to act...