Mark Bonchek, founding voice of Gennova, has been using the concept of design for emergence in his work creating and managing senior business leader networks at Tapestry Networks. Since he used the phrase in a Gennova meeting recently, I’ve been finding myself applying it in my own thinking about networks. In particular, as I think about answers to the question, “how do I create a network?” or “what are the important things you need to think about in designing a network,” I think, “design for emergence.”

I googled the phrase and found 294 entries. The first led me to pages titled “Designing for Emergence,” notes and articles by and about Michael McMaster. At the top of this page is a link to an interview of Michael McMaster by Bill Veltrop. Hm, a connection exists. (I met Bill Veltrop at one of Doug Engelbart’s Bootstrap Seminars in the early 90s. We had some good conversations, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.) Wait, there’s another one. This interview is on a set of pages from the Community Intelligence Labs founded by George Por whom I have not met but who is no doubt only 2 degrees away many many times.

The second set of entries were related to thinking about participatory design in a way that the interaction of the user with the system guides the design of the thing itself. See the oister available from the Umea Center for Interaction Technology, “Design for Emergence.”

So the thought of design for emergence is not entirely unthought, but it has, I think, a new resonance as both the memes of networks and complexity have advanced more into the popular (business) thinking.

Here’s what I am thinking about it in terms of creating and designing networks. Design for emergence is about understanding that no matter how carefully you spec, measure, cut, and draw, the thing will change. Design is critical, measure twice cut once if you must, choose your attractors carefully, but if any of the raw materials are in the shape of human beings, you need to give up ownership and control to that which emerges.