Research Commentary: Increasing the Flexibility of Legacy Systems

William L. Garrison, Barry Wellar, Ross MacKinnon, William R. Black and Arthur Getis
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William L. Garrison: University of California at Berkeley, USA
Barry Wellar: University of Ottawa and Wellar Consulting Inc., Canada
Ross MacKinnon: University of Connecticut, USA
William R. Black: Indiana University, USA
Arthur Getis: San Diego State University, USA

International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR), 2011, vol. 2, issue 2, 39-55

Abstract: Flexibility is what people seek when striving to increase or expand economic and social choices, equity, and technological innovations. Flexibility provides the robustness needed to adjust to changes such as those arising from a warmer/colder world, and the actions required when managing threats from and results of social strife, economic downturns, environmental catastrophes, infrastructure disruptions, and war. Flexibility is easy to praise at the level of principle, if allowed that a bit of stability and resistance to change does have merit. At the level of practice or operations the concept is most illusive, and explaining what flexibility means, why it is thwarted, and how it might be obtained is a challenging task. This paper begins by contrasting views of systems and their behaviors. Alternative explanations for behaviors thwarting flexibility are identified. Consequences of inflexible, locked-in development paths are illustrated using examples from transportation and similar systems. Suggestions for increasing flexibility are made after examining system behaviors in dynamic contexts. Academic, government, and industry experiences inform and color interpretations.

Date: 2011
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