POE-$Δ$: a framework for change engineering
Georgi Markov, Jon G. Hall, Lucia Rapanotti
TL;DR
POE‑D addresses the gap in practical approaches to socio‑technical change by extending greenfield design into brownfield engineering, offering a phenomena‑centred, modular framework that couples a micro‑process (formal problem transformations) with a macro‑process (delegated problem solving). Through a decade of Design Science Research and multiple case studies, it demonstrates how explicit problem ownership, stakeholder validation, and structured domain management can yield implementable changes while bounding risk and interdependencies. The key contributions include a formal grammar for change descriptions, a suite of rule classes (environment/need/solution refinements, domain additions/removals/refinements, parallel/sequential changes, and delegation) and guidance on integrating micro‑ and macro‑processes to manage complex organisational changes. Practically, POE‑D supports traceable change, cross‑domain reasoning with linguistic diversity, and end‑to‑end change campaigns that bridge theory and real‑world implementation, with future work focusing on dedicated tooling and broader empirical validation.
Abstract
Many organisational problems are addressed through systemic change and re-engineering of existing Information Systems rather than radical new design. In the face of widespread IT project failure, devising effective ways to tackle this type of change remains an open challenge. This work discusses the motivation, theoretical foundation, characteristics and evaluation of a novel framework - referred to as POE-$Δ$, which is rooted in design and engineering and is aimed at providing systematic support for representing, structuring and exploring change problems of a socio-technical nature, including implementing their solutions when they exist. We generalise an existing framework of greenfield design as problem solving for application to change problems. From a theoretical perspective,POE-$Δ$ is a strict extension to its parent framework, allowing the seamless integration of greenfield and brownfield design to tackle change problems. A Design Science Research methodology was applied over a decade to define and evaluate POE-$Δ$, with significant case study research conducted to evaluate the framework in its application to real-world change problems of varying criticality and complexity. The results show that POE-$Δ$ exhibits desirable characteristics of a design approach to organisational change and can bring tangible benefits when applied in practice as a holistic and systematic approach to change in socio-technical contexts.