Telic Baseline: An Argument from the Engineering Stance

Of the causes of real and imagined things, the fourth cause is telos. The telos of a thing is the ends, purposes and the reason for the thing in itself - that locus of intent or center of effect that all other parts yearn for. Each right intention; the intention to deliver on time, the intention to do the right job, the intention to draw all other parts toward an end and deliver the best solution with fewer than the fewest resources imaginable.

Telic Baseline Locus of Effect for Time=0

If I ask how long it will take and how much it's ends and purposes will require of the organization I must always have that answer in front of me so that I can inquire into the nature of the telic baseline; the organizations readiness to accept, the teams readiness to participate and to use this thing and, why this thing must be delivered. Time does not proceed uniformly and pervasively but the ends must be met - that is the telic baseline. That gets us into the closed errata list and the beta delivery slot.

Nothing else matters except an acceptable beta and a production ramp that causes as much suffering as we can bear. Development is hard. We all know this so say this under your breath to save us all time - assume we are thinking this thought when you are narrating your imaginary purpose for your imaginary thing.

A telic event is an event with an end; throwing the ball to the cut-off man, singing Happy Birthday, singing the first verse of Lolla and completing any project with a well defined intent. The telos of a project is a baseline or ensemble of dispositions. There is a well defined set of goals which define the transition from imagination to reality. This single event is the telos of design - the telos of design is the first part doing the first job for the first time. The telos of manufacturing is to make more that the imagined demand to the realized demand. In both cases we go from the imagined plan to the past history where imagined plans are weighed and tallied by the first part to exist in this world. After we design one we must make a million of them as fast as possible for the most return to the organization.

All real things exist on a fitness landscape. The market wants parts to appear at the right place in the right time with the right form, fit and function. Design can do its part but it controls only a single telic event. The path from market inquiry to market delivery traces out the fitness landscape (pictured above) of the telic baseline. This is a moving target because all things exist in a web of causation - nothing is caused by one event alone. The kind of event and the time at which the imagined finished event is completed must push the peak of the fitness landscape to match a similar heterogeneous landscape in the target system.

The emergent quality of imagined telic baselines across the mixed bag of design means or ensemble of functions must match the telic baseline of manufacturing and the superior telic baseline of the socket. In like manner up the food chain the imagined becomes real and least worse solutions emerge.