A key role for the systems engineering effort on a complex project is to manage the emergent properties of the design leading to an optimum design. This paper examines issues related to the management of the emergent properties of the design and proposes management methods.
Darren Bowes and Matthew Squair, ADI Limited, Major Projects Group, Minehunter, "Managing the Emergent Properties of the Design," INCOSE International Symposium in Brighton England 1999.
The notion that process other than agile do not deal with emergent properties of complex systems is simply not the case. I still hear the red herring of water fall used by agile thought leaders. I still hear very misinformed definitions of complexity, emergent, and adaptive - all academically poorly developed.
No doubt the work processes of a Scrum software development team add measurable value to the product development domain. But there are large gaps in the Scrum only solution to complex software embedded system. These gaps are closed in many domain by Systems Engineering activities. Much can be learned by the agilist software developers about how complex systems in space, defense, process control, embedded systems are delivered using this Systems Engineering paradigm.
