Atomic Design Methodology

The Atomic Design Methodology is a mental model that Brad Frost created and is promoting for the design of web pages. But I think that conceptualization applies beyond web pages. In fact, Brad Frost the creator of the Atomic Design Methodology of web pages, also promotes Atomic Design more generally.

I have mentioned this model before, see the two posts under additional information, tuning the model each time.  This is my third iteration of tuning this model or theory. This version considers the notion of the holon and considers my explanation of epistemic risk and competency questions and the triangle of meaning. Here is my current explanation of my understanding of the discrete stable units referred to as "atoms", "molecules", "organisms", and "species".

• Atoms are basic fundamental building blocks and make up all “things”. If you are building a house, atoms are like the bricks, 2 by 4s, cement, rebar and other fundamental things you might buy from Home Depot if you are building a house.  Atoms are like "data" that is "unprocessed".
• Molecules are low level functional units which are made up of two or more atoms held together by a logical “bond” (i.e. logical rules are bonds, the connections). Continuing with the metaphor of building a house, molecules are things like walls, doors, windows, roof, floor; molecules are constructed from the atoms.  Molecules are the atoms arranged into slightly more complex and sophisticated structures so that you don't have to work at the level of the atom.
• Organisms are higher level functional units which are assemblies or groups or structures of molecules that form simple working systems. My core pattern, the information block, is an example of an organism.  Again continuing with the metaphor of building a house, an organism is the house itself.
• Species are different types or categories of organisms. A species is like different types of houses which might be used for different purposes. Or you might see a "house" as a "physical structure" of some sort like maybe a garage, a warehouse, or a multi-story sky scraper.

Atoms, molecules, organisms, and species work together to create a system.  Once more with the metaphor of a house; a bunch of houses might be put together to form a city. Understanding what a holon is and how holons can be "wholes" and "parts" at the same time; the following graphic describes this conceptualizing or model or blueprint or theory or whatever you want to call it. Governance can make all this work like a Swiss watch. When epistemic risk is properly controlled; the result will be a virtuous cycle or feedback loop or causal chain or knowledge framework that makes the system better, and better, and better over time.

Discussing the system at the level of the "atom" would be a technical discussion.  Discussing this system at the level of the "molecule" or "organism" would be a business domain discussion, not a technical one.

The point is, all this can be describe using the elements of logic. Once they have been described, the system  can be implemented using software. That software can be used to construct industrial processes. Personally, I am applying these ideas to accounting processes.

What I think I am seeing is that you can use this to model an enterprise.  Some people refer to this as the "enterprise knowledge graph". An accounting information system is PART OF an enterprise knowledge graph.

Additional Information:

• Atomic Design Methodology
• Atoms, Molecules, Organisms and Designing Systems
• Conceptual Models as Social Artifacts
• Business Knowledge Blueprint
• Meaning
• Using Difference Between CAD/CAM and BIM to Understand How to Create Financial Reporting Expert Systems
• All the Tags (periodic table of HTML elements)