NOTE

In large teams, conflict becomes constructive; the free flow of conflicting ideas is vital for creative thought. – Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline (paraphrased)

Conflict is not the problem; staying hidden is

Every real system has several stakeholders and several views, and they do not always agree: finance wants access closed and marketing wants it open. Conflict that is seen and managed can produce a new idea; conflict that is ignored becomes a crisis.

Pieces

• Multi-perspective observability: each view sees only part of the system; the engineering, human and economic must be heard together.
• Analysing and classifying requirements: the section on “managing conflicts” shows what the analyst does when two stakeholders have opposing wants.
• Common mistakes of new analysts: one common error is listening to only one stakeholder.
• Holism and reductionism: two views in analysis: the old quarrel between holism and reductionism is also a kind of conflict of views.

conflictstakeholderssystems_analysis

Related: Complex systems and complexity and Crisis and critical systems.