NOTE: This paper was shipped to GMU as a pdf document, on a DVD with other documents in January 2009. The paper was written not in 2009 but in August 2008. The DVD is stored in Box 99, Folder 7 of Warfield Special Collection. A pdf file of the paper was added to Warfield Digital Collection. Warfield submitted this paper to the journal Systems Research in an email on 13 Aug 2008 addressed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. He sent two further emails inquiring about the paper, having received no acknowledgement of its receipt. His last message from Hull was from an editorial assistant who informed him on 9/11/2008 the article had a reference number (IJMR-0537) would be "forwarded to our editorial team." A response was received in a letter from Amanda dated 28 October 2008, enclosing very negative review from a referee, along with a request (after discussion with SR editor Mike Jackson) that Warfield revise the paper, "in particular providing more evidence and references." On 9 January 2009 Warfield mailed a DVD containing eleven papers, of which this is one, to Robert Vay, Special Collections & Archives, Fenwick Library, George Mason University as part of his last donation of papers to GMU.
ABSTRACT: A massive literature discusses the design of large systems; be they information systems, health-care systems, control systems, etc. A predominant attribute of this literature is the emphasis on methodology for carrying out such designs, with occasional evaluations of the results in specific cases and recommendations for further work. Rarely is human fallibility even mentioned as a factor in steering the design processes. Instead the implicit assumption is present that the human being is competent to implement the methodologies. The predominant method for controlling quality is the well-known Six-Sigma method promoted as an extension of the Deming statistical approach to quality control. Standing off to the side, so to speak, there is a modest literature based in philosophy, psychology, large-scale systems engineering test results, and one systems science offering which represents the point of view that human fallibility should be the dominant factor in quality control of system design. This point of view is elaborated, and it is suggested that it should be so regarded, or at least incorporated in system design.
