slide 1 © carliss y. baldwin 2008 the design of infrastructure (design theory meets infrastructure)...
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Slide 1 © Carliss Y. Baldwin 2008
The Design of Infrastructure(Design Theory meets Infrastructure)
Carliss Y. BaldwinHarvard Business School
Infrastructure Meets Business: Building New Bridges, Mending Old OnesAcademy of Management PDWChicago, ILAugust 7, 2009
Outline of remarks
What constitutes success for designs? Specific challenges for infrastructure
– Other people’s options
– Stable expectations vs. evolution/efficiency/adaptability
Implied design principles– Simple infrastructure
» End-to-end
» Scalability
– Total immersion infrastructure» Separation of functions
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Three levels of design success
Obey the laws of Nature (physics)—become real
Fulfill expectations Evolve gracefully
Success increases at each level, but there is tension between levels
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Three levels of design success
Not real, never real Very real
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Three levels of design success
Does not fulfill expectations
Fulfills expectations
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Other designs that did not fulfill expectations
The wings of Icarus RMS Titanic
Global Financial System
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Three levels of design success
Not evolvable Evolvable
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The evolvable design much more modular
Changes in one part most likely do not affect other parts
Infrastructure supports other people’s options
What is special about infrastructure?
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Infrastructure supports other people’s options
Airports, Highways Travel at MY volition
Electricity MY labor saving devices Telecomm Networks MY messages Education MY thoughts and dreams Prisons ???
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Design Principle 1: End-to-end
Design principle of the Internet Provide a simple (as simple as possible)
basic enabling service Move “extra” services to the edges/outside
the core
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Design Principle 2: Scalabilty
If infrastructure is successful at creating option value for other, it will be in high demand
Thus—build for changes in scale in the basic end-to-end service
Congestion is the curse of successful infrastructure
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End-to-end + Scalability work when infrastructure functions are simple
What if infrastructure functions are complex?– Airports– Oil rigs– Prisons– Hospitals
Total environment infrastructure– Design principles are different
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Design Principle 3: Separation of function
A special kind of modularity Divide activities according to function and make
different functions independent Create stable interfaces across functions
– “Differentiation and integration”
– “Weak linkage”
Avoid having one activity incorporate two functions– Although one activity can support multiple clients
(infrastructure within infrastructure)
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Modular Task Structure—Open Office v1.0
Database
Write word processor
Calc spreadsheet
Graphics system
Presentations, charts, drawing
Open Office v1.0—Core-Periphery View
Core-Periphery Analysis iterated on the Modules Calc and Write
Separation of function supports evolution/adaptation
Changes in requirements/needs/desires are often function-specific
Change one dimension without changing all the rest
Separation of function is a benefit of scale– Hotel vs. bed-and-breakfast– Hotel can decouple functions
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Summary: Design principles for infrastructure
Other people’s options For single-function infrastructure (water,
electricity, Internet)– End-to-end design– Scalability
For multi-function infrastructure (airports, hospitals, oil rigs, prisons)– Separation of functions/functional modularity
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Thank you!
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