Page 306 - Mechanical Engineers' Handbook (Volume 2)

6 Conclusions 297

Figure 9 Attribute tree and criteria for evaluation of de-
cision support system for design and other end uses.

3. Be capable of minimizing opportunities for cognitive bias and provide debiasing
procedures for those biases that occur
4. Allow separation of opinions and facts from values, and separation of ends from
means, or values from alternative acts
5. Provide an objective communicable framework that allows identification, formula-
tion, and display of the structure of the issue under consideration as well as the
rationale of the choice process
6. Allow for considerations of trade-offs among conflicting and incommensurate criteria
7. Provide flexibility and monitoring support to allow design process evaluation rule
selection with due consideration to the task structure and operational environment
constraints on the decision-maker
8. Provide an open process to allow consideration of new criteria and alternatives as
values change and broad-scope awareness of issues grows

There are a number of potential benefits of the systems approach that should follow high
achievement of each of the criteria for effective systems design processes. An appropriate
systems design process will:
1. Provide structure to relatively unstructured issues
2. Facilitate conceptual formulation of issues
3. Provide cognitive cues to search and discovery
4. Encourage parsimonious collection, organization, and utilization of relevant data
5. Extend and debias information-processing abilities
6. Encourage vigilant cognitive style
7. Provide brokerage between parties at interest
There are many imperfections and limits to processes designed using the methodologies from
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what we know as systems engineering and systems analysis, design, and integration. Some
of these have been documented in this chapter. Others are documented in the references