Designing amorphous systems is challenging because of the broad scope of the task.rnThe design team must integrate various solution elements, such as hardware, software, service, andrninfrastructure, while resolving the communication challenges among differentrndomain-experts. This research begins with the observation that, at the onset of an amorphousrnsystem-oriented project, design teams struggle because they are limited to knowledge of fewerrnthan 4 of the 6 W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why, How); rather than having detailed functionalrnor structural specifications as is the case with hardware or software products. The proposedrnscenario-based approaches enable design teams to effectively deal with ambiguity and torncommunicate their ideas among team members and managers, as well as with customers through arncommon language. Based on the Scenario-based Design for Amorphous Systems, methods such asrnthe Scenario Graph and the Scenario Menu help design teams through the exploration stage of arnnew system development. A case-study from industry demonstrates how a multi-disciplinaryrndesign team extracted high-level functions and requirements from scenarios dealing with anrnopen-ended project theme. The integrated framework of Scenario-based Design for AmorphousrnSystems guides the design teams in visualizing and organizing scenarios and making decisions inrnorder to define an amorphous system.
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