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Complex System Understanding

FR OM TO
Today, stakeholders are demanding increasingly In 2025 and beyond, standard measures of
capable systems that are growing in complexity, complexity will be established, and methods
yet complexity-related system misunderstand- for tracking and handling complex system
ing is at the root of significant cost overruns and behaviors and mitigating undesired behaviors
system failures. There is broad recognition that will be commonplace.
there is no end in sight to the system complexity
curve.

Systems engineering practices will include both indicators of system health, similar to how a per-
formal and semi-formal methods for identifying son’s temperature and white blood count are used
emergent behaviors and dealing with unantici- to indicate the presence of infection. Capitalizing
pated behaviors. Analytical techniques will be on this understanding to develop systems that are
commonly used to explore huge system state more fault tolerant, secure, robust, resilient, and
spaces to identify and eliminate undesirable adaptable will be a fundamental part of systems
system states. Techniques will be developed to engineering practices.
correlate a diverse range of system parameters as

PREDICTING AND MONITORING COMPLEX
MONITORING SYSTEM SYSTEMS FOR UNDESIRABLE
PREDICTING AND HEALTH STATES
MONITORING
COMPLEX
BEHAVIORS

Copyright 2014 International Council on Systems Engineering The Future State • 29