| At
present, there are several PatchWorks Designs projects
underway. |
| Most
of these are proprietary in nature and cannot be
disclosed outside of their own “invited” ValueWeb.
This is in a way a paradox; one of
the major aspects of a PatchWorks exercise is to
bring multiple
resources
to bear on complex problems; resources that go
beyond the scope of any one or a few organizations
- even
networks.
Therefore, one of the first tasks of the PatchWorks
process is to determine the constitution of the patches
and their relationship to one another - this often
requires a complete design cycle itself. Another
aspect of a PatchWorks exercise is that the different
players,
by definition,
are
each
participating
for different reasons, in different ways, often for
a different duration. This means that the rules-of-engagement
have to be carefully thought as part of that first
iteration of design. |
| That
certain individual institutions and people are, or
not, included in a PatchWorks
exercise
may or not
be disclosed. The
reasons, themselves, why this is so may
be
disclosed or not. |
| Not to
disclose the presence of these players and their
motives, in some cases, may distort the exercise
itself - in other circumstances, to disclose
participation,or sponsorship, may do the same. |
| These
are questions that the facilitator’s of the
PatchWorks “game” have to resolve. The
facilitators (or game-masters) of a PatchWorks exercise
have to establish and keep a level playing field
- a neutral space - in which members of a ValueWeb
can play with maximum security and equality. Yet,
in a PatchWorks, what this constitutes is defined
differently by each player - “equality” does
not mean the same. This aspect of the process
is rule-driven; there are tests to determine if the
exercise is appropriately populated, and usually
takes several iterations of design. |
| A ValueWeb,
of course is by definition a complex system made
up of many interests. Inside ValueWebs, there are
always multiple levels of recursion at work. The
number of stakeholders of any modern enterprise
is great - and, much larger than all but a few realize.
When we worked on the F-15 project, it was estimated
that 40,000 persons, worldwide, were involved in
designing, building, using, fighting, maintaining,
buying and selling, the System or some aspect of
it. It was impossible to identify all of these people.
the cost of producing the F-15 was reduced by double
digits, in just 18 months, by better aligning the
understanding, interests, work processes and rewards
of many (not
all) of these players. This was done even thought
is was impossible to identity all those involved
nor get to them directly. |
| All
really interesting, systemic problems share
these attributes of size, complexity,
wide and often obscure distribution of people and
resources; they
are composed of ValueWebs - recognized or not. The
PatchWorks architecture is critical to the
success of the venture. This architecture is built
by intention and heuristic discovery
and is the first part of the process of “bringing
and Agent into
an environment of Agents.” The process is goverened
by feedback - “of a complex kind” - the results have
to be emergent. |
| The
first real PatchWorks Design test was an event
at the Palo Alto KnOwhere Store in May 1999. MG Taylor
and the KnOwhere Stores supported the Foresight Institute
in a weekend event designed
to further the understanding and cause of Nano Techology.
To get information regarding this event, contact
the Foresight Institute. |
| Below,
other PatchWorks Designs projects are profiled.
Some are public and “commonwealth” focused
and some are aimed at the development of new technologies.
The reason that PatchWorks exercises are essential
to the operation of ValueWeb systems is because
ValueWebs cannot
be “managed” by
conventional management processes; the complexity
is too great and the dynamics of the enterprise
are too emergent. ValueWebs are
like replacement “economies” in
Jane Jacob’s terms. They have the inherent
diversity, history and will to replace their
economies when required by changing circumstances
whether they be internal or external to the ValueWeb
system. |
| The
PatchWork exercises and ongoing projects fall into
three broad categories: projects that I have started
on my
own - many of
which that will take decades to bring to fruition;
social entrepreneuring projects that others has
started and that MG Taylor, iterations,
SFIA Architects-Master Building and/or TomorrowMakers
are supporting; work the MG Taylor ValueWeb does
in support of our clients and license holders (including
projects in which they are employing our System
and Method for various enterprise reasons). |
| For
complex problem and opportunities, the PatchWorks
process, ValueWeb organizational structure and
NavCenter
facility
all are co-dependent concepts and make up mutually
supporting capabilities. It will take a network
of NavCenters to tackle the many large-scale work that
needs to be done. |
| In
1974,
I found myself professionally stymied. It seemed
impossible to do the kind of “Cathedral
Building” that I wanted to participate in. I realized
that these frustrations were not just a local consequence
but resulted from systemic causes. It was 1979 before
Gail and I were able to launch an enterprise to
get at these systemic blocks. It is now nearly
30 years later and the infrastructure of NavCenters
is nearly in place. There exists more than 30 environments
on the planet that can do the Taylor Process and
many of them are building the technology
augmentation necessary
for PatchWorks scale work. This number will easily
double over the next five years and it will not
be too soon. Humanity continues to struggle with
one another in endless “civil” wars while ignoring
the interesting and dangerous issues we as a species
face. We are making our future
by default. |
|
 |
| The
Three Cat Model is, on the top level of recursion,
is the basic engine of a PatchWorks Design exercise.
Multiple iterations of “three catting” are
necessary for true emergence to occur. |
|
| From
the time of the development of the PatchWorks architecture
in 1997, to
the first full scale PatchWorks exercise in mid 1999,
to now (mid 2003), the in-place capacity of the “Taylor” Big
E has grown an order of magnitude. This
is critical if
we are to take on the interesting and significant
challenges we face as a emerging global society.
This maturation is also necessary for the “Taylor” ValueWeb
achieving it’s goal of migrating beyond the limits
of it’s
founders and the capabilities of it’s starting
organizations - the
inner clam shell of the web.
In the Network
Economy, it is not
just organizations that have to be built - no even
just networks -
whole new economies have
to be created. The tools have to be developed to
do this - we have built the basic tool kit; now they
have to be made operational and expanded. This is
intrinsic to the goals, scale and scope of the Taylor System
and Method. These
requirement are driven by the MG Taylor mission which
to reach ubiquity with a new way of working. |
The Gaia
Project deals with aspects of the economy/ecology
split. It’s premise is that economy
and ecology are the same disciplines that
operate on different scale, scope and time
measures. It is the lack of adequate feedback
between
these two now separate systems that is
the primary problem. The Gaia Project addresses
this feedback inadequacy by developing “Speakers
for Gaia” that can represent planet
Earth in the policy and decision making
councils of human society. The
design assumption is that Gaia does not require
special and different treatment, Gaia requires
a full voice in human affairs - that
is all. This Project, conceived in 1986,
is now just stating - the maturing of
the Internet being an essential requirement
of the Project’s communication and governance
method. The Gaia
Hypothesis was developed
by James
Lovelock; this project is but one
way to test it and employ the concept fruitfully.
|
| The Master
Planning Project is a 1971 concept that
actually formed the intent for what is now
MG Taylor Corporation. There are two scales
of this Project. One global, the other local.
On the Global scale, the notion is to recreate
Earth as a garden. The Earth, now,
is a human artifact and actually has been
so for
a long
time. It is time to face up to this reality
- fortunate or unfortunate according to you
point of view - and to start stewarding the
process in a responsible manner. The work
is done on the local level and in a way that
appropriately “adds up” on the
global scale. The local work uses a
participatory method to
bring effective collaborative participation
and design to the creation and recreation
of communities and bio-regions. Such a project
needs a process armature powerful enough
to achieve an integrated result; and one
that is free, flexible and open enough to
ovoid dogmatic, repressive and arbitrary
planning that stifles innovation and initiative. |
| The Xanadu
Project is an idea looking for a “problem” -
or an opportunity. It
is a “building” designed for large
scale system integration design work and
collaboration. It is, at present, the full
expression of the Taylor System and Method
in so far as it can be located in
one place. The architectural idea came to
me in a literature class in 1959. The basic
function of the building as a live-in, full
service “knowledge-factory-hotel” was
articulated by me in 1986 - this was my net-take-away
from my Acacia years. The concept -
IC Factory - was further developed
in 1998, as part
of the our Patent application. The first
sketch putting this all together was developed
in 2000 stimulated by a possible joint venture
with a silicon valley technology company
who wanted to do an innovation center in
Europe. This version of the project is now
latent,
although, the concept of an European Innovation
Center, to be built in Italy, resurfaced
in 2002 with a whole new group of possible
sponsors.
Xanadu is more than
an
architectural
concept in the traditional sense of architecture
as it is now defined and practiced. Xanadu
is an actively intelligent
building that facilitates the work-life processes
of it’s human inhabitants. It could
be said, that the FULL development
of Xanadu would almost totally sum up my
life’s work in so far at this is possible
in a single work. I
certainly would be willing to call it “done”
if I could get this building built to the
full expression of the possibility. The scale
of Xanadu, and the technical development
[link] required to make it real, is such
that the project will take a decade to realize.
For
this reason, the path to Xanadu will be accomplished
in a number of discrete steps. |
| The Baltimore
Project is in the concept phase and should
be published and opened up to participation
by the end of the first quarter 2001. Access
to the web site is now restricted. e-mail me
if you want to view it. The basic idea of
this project is that traditional approaches
to urban renewal typically fail because they
do not build a viable economy into the area
being “helped.” An entirely new
approach is required to avoid this result
and new rules of engagement are necessary
for everyone involved. The objective is to
install a replacement economy, per Jane Jacob’s
definition of it, in a section of the Baltimore
inner city. This will be approached as an
investment and care will be taken that the
wealth created by the process largely remains
in the inner city and in the hands of it’s
inhabitants. An installation of a community
NavCenter in an abandoned high school building
will be the first phase of the project. |
|
|
Matt
Taylor
Palo Alto
April 19, 1999
SolutionBox
voice of this document:
INSIGHT • POLICY • PROGRAM
|
|
posted
April 19, 1999
revised:
May 12, 2003
• 19990419.333300.mt • 20010131.122439.mt •
•
20010203.124824.mt • 20030511.390087.mt •
• 20030512.299822.mt
•
(note:
this document is about 50% finished)
copyright© Matt
Taylor 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
Note:
Certain aspects of the system and method described herein
is Patented and Patent Pending by iterations. |
|
|
