Structuring Systems into Discrete Stable Units

This article pulls the ideas of the Atomic Design Methodology which was created by Brad Frost, the ideas of Kurt Cagle related to the holon, the practice of strong typing, the notion of a state machine, the mathematical notion of the manifold from the branch of mathematics called topology, and the child's toy called the Lego brick. To this, add the quality control techniques of Lean Six Sigma and Agile.  Now, apply all that to the deterministic system that is called double entry bookkeeping.

Atomic Design is a methodology for structuring systems by breaking those systems into discrete, stable, typed units at different levels of complexity: atoms, molecules, organisms, and species. Each level represents a progressively richer functional structure. This creates an explicit hierarchy of structures which can be leveraged.  Atoms are the basic building block.  Molecules are bonded functional units created from assembling atoms.  Organisms are assembled from molecules and form working functional systems with describable and understandable characteristics.  Species are simply different categories of organisms that perform slightly different functions.

A holon is something that is simultaneously a whole in and of itself, as well as a part of a larger whole. Holons are things that exist as both wholes and parts of larger systems at the same time.  Holons have a dual nature in that they function independently by one set of rules while at the same time they contribute to the functioning of the larger system in which they exist. This describes perfectly the relationship between atoms, molecules, organisms, and species of organisms. As exemplified by a financial statement, a holon is a state machine which has:

  • An interior state and that interior state can be described using a knowledge graph
  • A boundary or boundary layer or control plane that can also be described using a knowledge graph
  • Events which cause changes in state and contribute to current state also describable using a knowledge graph
  • The knowledge graphs of the interior state, the boundary, and events  can be used to create a projection or various projections of that holon
  • One of those projections could be a manifold as described by topology which is a branch of mathematics
Lego bricks, or the Lego analogy, give you intuition for composability, composition, and decomposition. These discrete, stable, typed units are:
  • Modular: Instead of one giant, messy project, you break everything down into small, manageable pieces.
  • Standardized: Similar to how every Lego brick has the same little bumps (studs) on top and holes on the bottom; because these "interfaces" are always the same, any two pieces can snap together; if you make the "connectors" standard, you can swap parts in and out without breaking the whole system.
  • Portable: Because, like standardized Legos, they are portable. For example, you can take your Legos to a friend's house and her Lego set will fit into your Lego set.
  • Reusable: Similar to Legos, if you need a tower for your castle, you don't have to invent a "tower-making" process. You just use the same bricks you used to build the wall. Pieces are proven, tested, and based on best practice.
  • Scalable: Like with Legos, you can start with a tiny house and, brick by brick, turn it into a city. You don't need a new "system" to get bigger; you just add more blocks.
  • Versatile: Like Legos, the discrete, stable, typed units are versatile.  There is not only one type of Lego brick, there are many different types. And you can build pretty much anything with Legos.
  • Precision components: Like certain Lego pieces, like wheels, which provide specific critical functionality and these precision components can be created and provided within the Lego system.
The digital information organism is a discrete stable unit.  With these discrete stable units, industrial processes can be created. Lean Six Sigma is a set of techniques, principles, and philosophies related to process improvement. For example poka yoke mistake proofing is a technique and the 1-10-100 rule which points out that the relative cost to fix a process is $1, to remediate an error is $10, and to deal with the consequences of a failure is $100. The Agile Manifesto is used by software developers can likewise be used by accountants, auditors, and analysts.  One Agile technique of extreme programming is to use test suites, a similar approach can be used to create these discrete stable units and make sure they were created correctly and according to best practices.

Why all this effort?  Because the payback is huge.  As Gartner points out, the average Fortune 1000 company uses about 800 electronic spreadsheets to create its compliance report.  Those 800 electronic spreadsheets are fragmented islands of information, individual silos.  Those silos of information are linked together using human effort.  These discrete stable units of information, if they work well, can replace those 800 silos with one knowledge graph that is interpretable by both machine-based processes and human-based processes.

To industrialize something means to turn it into a routinized, repeatable, scalable, reliable process that can be done the same way every time. That includes:
  • Standardization: You define the steps clearly so the work is done the same way each time.
  • Repeatability: Anyone (or any machine) can follow the steps and get the same result.
  • Scale: You can do it not just once, but hundreds or thousands of times.
  • Efficiency: You remove unnecessary variation, waste, or improvisation.
  • Transfer from “craft” to “system”: Before industrialization work depends on individual skill, judgment, or memory. After industrialization work depends on a documented, controlled process.
A simple metaphor. If you cook a meal from memory, that’s craft. If you write a recipe that anyone can follow, that’s standardization. If you build a kitchen that can produce 500 identical meals a day, that’s industrialization.

Discrete stable units of information make industrialization possible. These digital discrete stable units of information can serve accountants, auditors, and analysts for the next 1000 years.


Here is my summary of use cased for these discrete stable units of information, exemplified by progressively larger and more complex reference reporting frameworks. Here are my test cases. Here is my conformance suite.

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