1. Managing ICS Complexity
Professor Mark Haselkorn
TC 520

2. Standing Technical Communication on its Head
From particular instance of communication out To
Communication systems and environment in
View these systems as an information product
In almost all your technical communication classes, you focus on a particular instance of communication—a website, an article, a proposal. You work outward from that instance of communication. Who is the audience? What is the purpose? What is the available technology? How does your organization handle information? Are there standard ways of doing things that must be considered? How will your information be used and archived and repurposed? Are there political considerations? Economic? Legal? Ethical? You draw on all these considerations to do the best job of designing a particular instance of communication.
In this class we will stand technical communication on its head. We will focus on the larger systems themselves, rather than simply use them to inform the particular design decisions for an instance of communication. What are these systems? How do they work? How do they interact? How are they managed? Who manages them? Could it be done better?
The goal is for you to understand the systems by which an organization communicates to itself and others as an information product, that is, as something that is designed, developed, used, maintained, and managed. Perhaps it is an information product that YOU will want to design, develop, use, maintain, and manage.

3. Overview General background on ICS complexity
Specific situational issues (an organizational example)
Lessons for managing ICS complexity

4. ICS Complexity ICS versus a Roof
Given the nature of our visit, I couldn’t help mentally comparing the roof to the systems we had spent our day investigating. Like the roof, ICS systems are significantly impacted by funding issues, but you could point at the roof across the street. You knew what the roof was used for and you could identify the components of the roof that weren’t meeting specifications. With the ICS systems we had been discussing that day it was far from obvious where a given system was located, where it began and ended and even of what it consisted. With ICS systems it was far more difficult to point at the things that needed to be repaired or checked. It wasn’t even clear who was using an ICS system and what they were using if for.

5. ICS Complexity ICS is Pervasive ICS is Multi-Purpose
ICS Elements are Diverse and Dynamic
ICS is Less Reliable than Traditional Infrastructure
ICS Elements are Interdependent

6. ICS is Pervasive Everywhere yet not anywhere in particular
People see/touch small piece of overall system
People usually seek to control their piece
When there are problems, reverse is true
Confusion over ownership and responsibility
More an environment than a discrete machine

7. ICS is Multi-Purpose
Not obvious who is using it or what they are using it for
True at many levels (e.g. content, management)
Honest differences of perspective as to the most desirable features

8. ICS Elements are Diverse and Dynamic
Consists of a wide diversity of levels and elements, each with unique attributes and issues
For example,
rate of change
PC environments
organizational diversity

9. The System Hardware (RTC) BIOS Operating System
I/O devices, peripherals, etc.
Application Software
Data/Databases/DBMS
Users
Policies & Practice
Organizations
Economic Sectors
Society
Rollover
Representation
Processing
Sharing
Co-evolution
© Mark P. Haselkorn, 1998

10. ICS is Less Reliable than Traditional Infrastructure
High-reliability vs. COTS
Programming as an art
Incredible complexity
Historical perspective

11. ICS Elements are Interdependent
Compatibility
System of systems
Funding

12. Situational Issues Like documents, ICS management is situational
Tied to, for example, an organization’s
Mission
Strategic objectives
Environment
Culture

13. Mission and Functional Objectives
For example
National security
Information superiority
Flexible capability
Multi-functional
Increase response capability by detaching logistics from operations
Highest demand for security and information assurance

14. Security and Information Assurance
Information value has accompanying risk
Holds for all ICS levels
e.g. communications, data, practice
Risk TO systems from the outside versus risk FROM internal system complexities
Functional strength versus security
Integration of IA and CIP

15. Organization, Policy and Decision-making
Organizational “homes” of ICS and how they contribute to policy and practice
For example, Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996
“executive agency” versus distributed, frontline operational management and use
Functional (stovepipe) versus cross-functional
Acquisition and fielding versus use and maintenance

16. Personnel and Training
Most important element?
Market competition
Job classifications and work conditions
Reliance on informal training and experience
Turnover

17. Geographic and Organizational Dispersion
CONUS versus OCONUS
Organizational attachments
Autonomy
Resources
Mission-related issues
International differences

18. Lessons for Managing ICS Complexity
“Modern technology and society have become so complex that traditional ways and means are not sufficient any more but approaches of a holistic or systems, and generalist or inter-disciplinary nature become necessary.”
Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von, General System Theory (Revised Edition), New York, 1998.
Consider ICS management under stress—Y2K

19. Need for New ICS Management Strategies
ICS cannot be understood and managed independent of interactions with other systems and with the environment.
Increased awareness of interdependencies and shared responsibilities across and outside of an organization
Manage as an organized whole

20. New Considerations in Problem Definition and Stratification
Breakdowns in traditional management begin at the most basic, definitional levels
Failure of efforts to stratify the problem
Not only does technical complexity make it difficult to identify the boundaries of a given issue, but even more importantly the interplay between technical systems and their non-technical environment dynamically affect basic notion of key definitions like “critical.”

21. Shift in Focus from Technology to Data, Knowledge, and Mission
“Computer-centric” perspective
Use of data seen as separate from system
But databases do many things
Changes to data drive changes to technology
Data problems can have disastrous implications independent of whether or not hardware and software are performing as intended
“Data-centric” perspective

22. Aligning Operational and Strategic Management with ICS Management
“Data-centric” impact not only on ICS professionals but also strategic managers
Many difficulties from differences
“Correct” based on technical knowledge versus “best” based on negotiated consensus
Tolerance for risk
But necessary to bridge the gap

23. Many Others Manage cross-functionally
Can’t just manage what you understand
Fund differently
Manage people before technology
More about balancing competing “goods” than choosing between right and wrong
Don’t return to business as usual