Mastering Complexity

Acknowledgments

That this book even exists is in no small measure because of the critical inspiration and generous help I have received over many years from Don Steward and Jack Nevison. They are both colleagues and valued personal friends.

I have known and collaborated with Don since 1992. Don was the originator of the Dependency Structure Method and many of the collateral ideas. He is a typical creative thinker—self-centered, an explosive fountain of ideas, and idiosyncratic. He is highly ethical and a most rare resource. If it were not for his persistence and stubbornness, many of his great ideas would have died on the vine years ago.

I first met Don Steward at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School, where he was spending ...