Complex adaptive system

A complex adaptive system is one that we can’t understand even if we understand its parts, because the interactions between those parts are so complex that the behavior of the system is unpredictable even knowing its current state. There are more formal definitions in the scholarly articles on the subject, but this one will do for understanding how I use the term in the book. Complex adaptive systems include feedback loops that result in non-linear behaviors and components that adapt and change with the circumstances. Biological organisms are examples of complex adaptive systems. The collection of essays in Clippinger’s The Biology of Business shows that business enterprises also have the characteristics of complex adaptive systems. In the digital world, the implication is that we can best learn about the behavior of the system by “provoking” it and observing the result, because it is in practice impossible to predict how it will respond.

— War and Peace and IT: Glossary, Mark Schwartz

A CAS is a self-organizing system with non-linearities and complex interactions, one in which leadership can influence, but not control, outcomes.

— The Art of Business Value, in “Chapter 6: The Clue”, Mark Schwartz

complex adaptive system (CAS)—a self-organizing system (a concept that draws from evolutionary biology) in which individuals pursue their own objectives and interact in complex, ever-changing ways.

— War and Peace and IT, in “2 - COMPLEXITY AND UNCERTAINTY”, Mark Schwartz