8.2.3 Demystifying Ambiguity in The Design of Amorphous Systems

Designing amorphous systems is challenging because of the broad scope of the task. The design team must integrate various solution elements, such as hardware, software, service, and infrastructure, while resolving the communication challenges among different domain-experts. This research begins with the observation that, at the onset of an amorphous system-oriented project, design teams struggle because they are limited to knowledge of fewer than 4 of the 6 W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why, How); rather than having detailed functional or structural specifications as is the case with hardware or software products. The proposed scenario-based approaches enable design teams to effectively deal with ambiguity and to communicate their ideas among team members and managers, as well as with customers through a common language. Based on the Scenario-based Design for Amorphous Systems, methods such as the Scenario Graph and the Scenario Menu help design teams through the exploration stage of a new system development. A case-study from industry demonstrates how a multi-disciplinary design team extracted high-level functions and requirements from scenarios dealing with an open-ended project theme. The integrated framework of Scenario-based Design for Amorphous Systems guides the design teams in visualizing and organizing scenarios and making decisions in order to define an amorphous system.