Designing and Managing Complex Systems

David Moriarty initially trained as a doctor and during his medical training he undertook a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience graduating with first class honors and having his research findings published in the British Journal of Neurosurgery. He graduated the Imperial College School of Medicine in 2004 after being awarded the Hawker Scholarship for highest preclinical examination results. His interest in neuroscience and the neurobiological basis of complex behavior led him to begin neurosurgical training before subsequently deciding to try an alternative career in aviation. He started flying for CityJet in 2007, became a captain in 2012 and subsequently became a training captain (a pilot that trains other pilots on the ground and in the cockpit). He is currently flying as a captain with easyJet. Much of the research into the complexity of both human performance and system design focuses on safety-critical industries such as nuclear, healthcare and aviation. After two years working in aviation, David became involved with Human Factors training, human factors being the scientific discipline that looks at how human performance and system design can be optimized. A year later, he became Chief Human Factors Instructor for CityJet. In order to improve his knowledge of human factors he completed a master’s degree in Human Factors and Safety Assessment in Aeronautics at Cranfield University with a specialist interest in Resilience Engineering and safety management in complex systems. Prior to starting the course he was awarded a Royal Aeronautical Society Centennial Scholarship and he graduated from Cranfield with the Course Director’s Prize for achieving the highest overall results in his class. He has published and presented work in the fields of neurosurgery, complex system management and aeronautical safety and also runs Zeroharm Solutions, a consultancy specializing in medical and aeronautical human factors. David is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Resilience Engineering Association and is part of SCiO, Systems and Cybernetics in Organizations. His first book, Practical Human Factors for Pilots was released on 15th January 2015 and is published by Academic Press, part of the Elsevier group. His approach to this current project is the same as his approach to his first book: to take the best science that is available across a wide range of disciplines and present it to the reader in an integrated, interesting and, most importantly, useful way.

Part I: Cybernetics

1.1 Control and communication

Part II: Learning from systems

2.1 The simplification imperative

2.2 The language of systems

2.3 Classes of systems

2.4 Neurobiological systems

2.5 Sociotechnical systems

2.6 Consilient dynamics across scales

Part III: Creating and managing systems

3.1 Introduction to part 3

3.2 Structure and function

3.3 Capability and adaptive capacity

3.4 Engineering resilience

3.5 Assessing the system properties of your organization

Part IV: Case studies

4.1 Challenger and Columbia

4.2 Walmart, FEMA, and Hurricane Katrina

4.3 Lake Peigneur

4.4 The water temples of Bali

4.5 The global financial crisis

4.6 Continental Airlines

4.7 Three Mile Island

4.8 Cybersyn and the trucking strike

4.9 Biological and informational viruses

4.10 Netflix

4.11 Fukushima

4.12 The Mumbai Dabbawalas

4.13 Flash Crash

4.14 Alphafold 2

Part V: Conclusion

5.1 Consilience with the arts

5.2 Conclusion