Examining the impact of aggregated design impulses on process architecture in distributed design

During the design of complex systems, a design process may be subjected to stochastic inputs, interruptions, and changes. These design impulses can have a significant impact on the transient response and converged equilibrium for the design system. We distinguish this research by focusing on the interactions between local and architectural impulses in the form of designer mistakes and dissolution, division, and combination impulses, respectively. We find that local impulses tend to slow convergence but systems subjected to dissolution/division impulses still favor parallel arrangements. The strategy to mitigate combination impulses is unaffected by the presence of local impulses.