Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated

Uncertainty Principle

The act of measuring certain sensitive variables in a system can alter them, and confound the accuracy of the measurement.

This principle is based on Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in physics. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that both the position and momentum of an atomic particle cannot be known because the simple act of measuring either one of them affects the other. Similarly, the general uncertainty principle states that the act of measuring sensitive variables in any system can alter them, and confound the accuracy of the measurement. For example, a common method of measuring computer performance is event logging: each event that is performed by the computer is recorded. Event logging increases the visibility ...