Simple rules for a complex world

I have just read a thought provoking article at HBR.
The questions that set me thinking from the perspective of enterprise modeling are:

1. How do we model specific and strategic bottlenecks?
2. How do we model historical data in such a way to ease future thoughtful analysis that is crucial to developing simple rules?
3. How do we provide a modeling environment that allows rules that are developed by the greater community?

Simplexity is the tension between simplicity and complexity.  These solutions are principles of simplification that enable an organism to deal with information and situations, while taking into account past experiences and anticipating future ones.

In other words, in a complex world, solutions are not simple because there can be no simple solutions – they are necessarily “simplex”.  Nature has inspired us such that we realise simplification is never simple and requires instead that we choose, refuse, connect, and imagine, in order to act in the best possible manner.

Thoughts adapted from a book titled “Simplexity – Simplifying Principles for a Complex World” by Alain Berthoz.

uml compilers

A number of  tools to explore further in conjunction with miUML.

• http://code.google.com/p/xuml-compiler/
• http://ooatool.com/

An Emerging Option

I am now exploring the use of miUML metamodel as the foundation for designing a SOA ontology based on OASIS Reference Model for SOA (SOA RM) with the intention of supporting an emergent ecosystem of autonomous interacting agents.

A problem statement/context will be specified next.

Challenges of Emergent Architecture

In response to those challenges raised by a blog post at http://wp.me/p1cB5i-9T, I would contend that one way to build the required architecture that addresses both the foundational and situational needs and yet enables the architecture to “evolves” is to adopt an fractal design approach where a complex eco-system is made up of simple units such as a swarm of ants and to externalise all binding/connection information between a service consumer and a service provider to an evolving execution context.  See OASIS SOA Reference Model for more details about the concept of the latter.