Correlating Integrative Complexity With System Modularity

Modularity is the degree to which a system is made up of relatively independent but interacting elements. Modularization is not necessarily a means of reducing intrinsic complexity of the system, but it is a means of effectively redistributing the total complexity across the system. High degree of modularization enable reductionist strategies of system development and is an effective mechanism for complexity redistribution that can be better managed by system developers by enabling design encapsulation. In this paper, we introduce a complexity attribution framework to enable consistent complexity accounting and management procedure and show that integrative complexity has a strong inverse relationship with system modularity and its implication on complexity management for engineered system design and development.