Synergy

Synergy - 

the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.; synergism.

Or, put another way, emergent behavior. Put a bunch of simple things or rules together and see what happens. DNA is only 4 base pairs, and the combinations are limited, but somehow, when they combine in the right ways you get people. Or viruses. And everything in between. Logic gates, whether they’re vacuum tubes or solid state, are either open or closed, 0 or 1, but put them together the right way and you have a computer. Or a self driving truck.

Another classic example of emergent behavior is Conway’s Game Of Life. Three simple rules, but endless possibilities. From static images to glider guns. And to top it off, small changes to the rules or initial conditions produce radically different results.

It’s about how observable phenomena emerge from the well defined and understandable interactions of entities. It can be seen at all levels. From DNA base pairs to societies. At each step along the way entity interaction becomes phenomena, where are then the entities that interact at the next level.

Which leads to Conway’s Law. It’s the same Conway, and another example of emergence.

But things can go both ways. Software can look like the organization, but the way the software is built and put together can also drive the shape and culture of the organization. The strength (or openness) of the walls between parts of your code can drive the org. Simple, reliable, straightforward APIs encourage others to find new and better ways to use them. Ways that you aren’t thinking about when you build them, Ways that only become apparent when you look at them not as phenomena to be used, but as part of the set of entities and interactions at the next level.

Just something to think about as you build your APIs/interfaces. So that the synergy can emerge.