On Mistaking the Watch for Its Gears

Holism founders, and that utterly, on friction.

When you assemble a complex system, you do not get emergence; you get friction.

Friction in mechanical systems is somewhat understood. Friction in organizations, in processes, and in software are progressively less well understood. But this is where we need to be looking, because to an excellent approximation, everything that we make or use is paralyzed by friction.

Friction is not minimized by optimizing the whole, nor by optimizing single parts, but by optimizing the points of contact between parts. This is the goal of specialization.

The danger is to mistake the gears for the watch.