Complexity

Dismantling the myth of engineering infallibility and examining why high-risk technologies fail due to inherent complexity.

At some system complexity level, every additional feature generates more failure modes than it closes — measured by the Complexity-Reliability Inversion Point.

Documents the organisations that enforce complexity budgets and architectural simplicity mandates, demonstrating that CRIP management is achievable as a design discipline rather than an accident.

Applies CRIP analysis to US hospital clinical protocol systems, showing that ICU alarm fatigue and medication error rates are measurable manifestations of protocol complexity exceeding its management envelope.

Examines how Linux, TCP/IP, and Git maintained sub-CRIP complexity through deliberate architectural choices that bounded module interaction — contrasted with equivalent monolithic systems.

Introduces the Complexity-Reliability Inversion Point and applies it to the NASA Shuttle specification and Boeing 737 MAX MCAS, establishing the meta-pattern of CRIP-crossing disasters.

A two-part series exploring the challenges of systems engineering, from problem definition to engineering resilient solutions.

How the quest for iconic, complex solutions leads to mega-project disasters.

Understanding how complex order emerges from simple rules in biological systems.