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Foundations in Systems Integration
rekindle memories of past experiences, people, or situations. These are
abstract in nature, dissociated with present realities, but reminiscent of
another time, different circumstances, or emotions. Drawing from a recipe,
memory, or trial and error, the plan is to capture that memory and make the
soup. The chef gathers ingredients and enacts processes to prepare, combine,
and cook (i.e., model) with the intention to provide sustenance, preserve the
memory, and likely offer the soup as a means to brand the restaurant and its
epicurean delights—the soup offered as the signature dish. The chef,
preparer(s), and the soon-to-be eater(s) conduct themselves in appropriate
ways, exhibiting manners and deportments indicative of social custom and
habits.* Depending on the remembered ingredients and the preparation and
processes, the result might be turned into a soup de jure or de facto. † However,
unlike the simple admixture of water and salt, for example, where salt can be
dissociated from its water bond and both ingredients restored to their original parts. The ingredients for this particular soup undergo an irreversible
blending that is more than an interaction. The new signature soup will be the
result of integration. The saline solution is a spurious system—an assembly
of constituent parts revealing its distinct parts before and after processing
(e.g., through evaporation). The soup has chemical compositions that are
changed by heat.
Integration is more than merely combining or assembling parts to make a
whole. Integration is a coalesce of objects interacting in unpredictable ways.
Integration, when achieved, may not be repeatable in the same way. The
end results involve more than one science, subject, or skill. Integration requires
a wide range of activities to put something together, with all fields and
disciplines inextricable intertwined. Soup is not conceived, made, or eaten
only as product (model class), only through skilled kitchen management
(social class), or only because of feelings (abstract class).
The classes of integration are conglomerated, yet specialized and reflective
of the differences between them. Their inherent differences are fundamental, and have correspondingly been inculcated into our thinking through our
institutions of learning. This book presents the three classes of integration as
codependent specializations that are neither normative nor prescriptive. If
integration was so shackled to any particular field or discipline, nothing
could be discovered, built, or discussed. All disciplines, all fields, and all
work transcend the classes of integration as we think to solve problems and
* A necessary condition for a successful project is to have broad and substantial stakeholder
agreement and stakeholder support. Principle 1: The Principle of Alignment results in better
outcomes.
† De jure is defined as the rightful (that which is intended) embodiment of human work in the
form of products and services. De facto is the accidental embodiment of systems that are
caused by human or natural workings (that which is unintended). De facto systems can be
thought of as emergent systems that have developed as a result of circumstances. An example is the introduction of nonnative plants into an area; the dumping of ship’s ballast in foreign waters and establishing nonnative species; and the movement of various types of insects
(e.g., killer bees) into new regions.