Eb Rechtin’s Definition (Systems Architecting: Creating and building complex systems, Eberhardt Rechtin, Prentice Hall, 1991):
- System
- “A system is defined… as a set of different elements so connected or related as to perform a unique function not performable by the elements alone.”
- Architecture
- “The term ‘architecture’ is widely understood and used for what it is – a top-down description of the structure of the system”.
Not only does the system perform a unique function, but it has unique characteristics and qualities that are inherent in the system and not just the parts.
Thinking about systems, or from a systems perspective, has its roots in work by Buckminster Fuller and Russell Ackoff, among others. More recently, it has been recognized as a field in itself, called “systems thinking”, and has intellectual leaders such as Peter Checkland and Peter Senge (author of the “The Fifth Discipline”). Ebert Rechtin’s “Systems Architecting: Creating and building complex systems” (1991) remains one of the most important works in this domain, and has been highly influential in our approach of architecture.
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