Simon’s (1996) parable of two watchmakers, Tempus and Hora, provides
an illustration. Each watchmaker builds watches of 1,000 parts. Hora divides
the task into sub-assemblies based on powers of ten, while Tempus does not.
Interruptions by customers cause the watchmakers to lose any partially
completed work – five steps on average in the case of a sub-assembly, but 500
steps on average otherwise. At the end of the day, Hora has built more than an
order of magnitude more watches. The modular design proves significantly
more robust.
an illustration. Each watchmaker builds watches of 1,000 parts. Hora divides
the task into sub-assemblies based on powers of ten, while Tempus does not.
Interruptions by customers cause the watchmakers to lose any partially
completed work – five steps on average in the case of a sub-assembly, but 500
steps on average otherwise. At the end of the day, Hora has built more than an
order of magnitude more watches. The modular design proves significantly
more robust.
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