Design rules
We live in a dynamic economic and commerical world, surrounded by objects of remarkable complexity and power. In many industries, changes in products and technologies have brought with them new kinds of firms and forms of organization. We are discovering news ways of structuring work, of bringing buyers and sellers together, and of creating and using market information. Although our fast-moving economy often seems to be outside of our influence or control, human beings create the things that create the market forces. Devices, software programs, production processes, contracts, firms, and markets are all the fruit of purposeful action: they are designed. Using the computer industry as an example, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark develop a powerful theory of design and industrial evolution. They argue that the industry has experienced previously unimaginable levels of innovation and growth because it embraced the concept of modularity, building complex products from smaller subsystems that can be designed independently yet function together as a whole. Modularity freed designers to experiment with different approaches, as long as they obeyed the established design rules. Drawing upon the literatures of industrial organization, real options, and computer architecture, the authors provide insight into the forces of change that drive today's economy.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
16mentions
7people
2009–2024years
69% recommend31% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I strongly recommend picking up Carliss Baldwin’s Design Rules. It is a great addition to the thinking done in Notes on the Synthesis of Form, in a more empirical and specific technological context (the advent of the computer).
- I don’t know in practical terms how Apple does it, I only know that they must do it because otherwise they couldn’t produce an artifact as complex as the iPhone. You can know for a fact they utilize modularity by opening up an iPhone and seeing… modules! A few things to read in the general area of this theory though…
Short and highly specific: Bezos’ API memo — https://konghq.com/blog/enterprise/api-mandate
An actual book that’s a bit broader but touches on system coupling/decoupling and is very practical for software people: Wiring the Winning Organization by Gene Kim
An excellent, very approachable primer on the overarching field of thought, which is systems theory, is Donella Meadows’ “Thinking in Systems”
Going back to more of the philosophical foundation (along with other valuable business ethics lessons), you should look into the work of W Edwards Deming and his “System of Profound Knowledge” — sounds pretentious but is EXTREMELY practical. This region of thought forms the basis of e.g. the Toyota Production System
And an absolutely excellent but more academic deep dive into precisely this topic of modularity is Carliss Baldwin’s “Design Rules.” It’s sort of a super-theory of Conway’s Law, but in a book-length argument.
- I swear I got this recommendation here, but I can't remember who to credit and can't find the post.
Anywho, this is arguably the overarching reason Design Rules: The Power of Modularity[1] was written, at least in the abstract way you are asking it.
The book tells you about the process that led to the creation of IBM's System/360, and it shows how a set of patterns and rules have converged in parallel industry sectors. It was honestly one of the most interesting books I've ever read, and that's exactly what it is about. Highly recommend this book to virtually anyone on this board.
[1] ISBN10: 0262024667
- Design Rules, Vol. 1: The Power of Modularity [2000]
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Rules-Vol-Power-Modularity/dp/...
Formal definitions for interfaces and so forth. Completely changed my mental model for my work.
Paraphrasing from book (from memory): "Architecture" is the set of visible design choices.
Design Rules is to software methodology what Diffusion of Innovations is to product development.
There is some overlap between Design Rules and Diffusion of Innovations, of course. They're compliments.
- Please forgive the hi-jack...
FWIW, the book Design Rules: The Power of Modularity systematically explores the tradeoffs.
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Rules-Vol-Power-Modularity/dp/...
Written by two economists, it's the only prescriptive definition of architecture that I've managed to find. Influenced me deeply.
- Basket of NPV style hedges are The Correct Answer™. Meaning, try a bunch of stuff, with some reasonable resources and constraints, see what works.
I like the explanation and rationale given in Design Rules https://www.amazon.com/Design-Rules-Vol-Power-Modularity/dp/..., though there's plenty of others.
Related
Object-oriented design heuristics
5 recommend · 10
Notes on the synthesis of form
34 recommend · 94
Computer architecture
59 recommend · 110
Information rules
18 recommend · 60
Design Patterns
95 recommend · 491
Computer organization and design
50 recommend · 101
