Process, System, and System Behavior
Creation systems should not be confused with the process of creating the system of interest. More precisely, you should not confuse a system with a process. We say that various systems participate in the creation process[1], and we call these the creation systems. Together, they form the system-creator.
Accordingly, when we say "process"[2], we mean the interaction of different systems, resulting in the production of a work artifact. If creation systems participate in this process, the resulting work artifact is the system of interest. If it is a process of thinking through writing, involving the thinker and the computer (exocortex), the resulting work artifact is a draft post on the computer.
Sometimes, it is easy to identify the supersystem for all the systems involved in a given process. For example, consider the process of burning a fuel mixture, which involves the piston, cylinder, crank mechanism, crankshaft, cooling subsystem, and so on. All these systems together form the internal combustion engine (ICE). However, sometimes your perspective is limited, or there is no commonly used name for such a supersystem in the culture (as there is for ICE). Nevertheless, you should not confuse the names of the process and the system, as in the example above.
The systems participating in a process change their state or demonstrate certain behaviors. We use "behavior" to describe the interaction of a system with its environment—that is, "external behavior" or "role-based behavior." For example, each of the systems listed above[3] that participate in the process of burning a fuel mixture has its own type of behavior[4]. But the engine itself also has behavior[5], and along with the chassis and cabin, it participates in another process—transporting cargo and passengers. The work artifact of this latter process is the cargo and passengers moved from one place to another.
Thus, do not confuse the types of concepts—process, system, and role-based behavior.
That is, the "participation relationship" in some activity (changes, processes, procedures) is simply a specialization of the "composition relationship." ↩︎
Outside of Aisystant, the word "process" may be used as a synonym for "practice." However, we distinguish between "process" and "practice"—these are different types. ↩︎
The piston behaves in one way, the cylinder in another. ↩︎
Or, for example, inside a clock, there is also a process of counting seconds, involving gears, springs, and other clock subsystems. ↩︎
Delivering torque. ↩︎