This was a working textbook when the second edition was published by the Iowa University Press. At the time, it was described as

 … addresses a current, critical problem – that society today involves large sociotechnical systems whose performance is far from ideal. It cites these nonefficient systems as having "taken their present forms primarily through evolutionary change that did not involve any systematic overview design" or as entities that are "said to have been designed but still fail in ways that produce disasters."

As a solution to this problem, A Science of Generic Design explains how to analyze and design efficient, effective systems much needed in current government, business, industry, education, and other institutions of modern life. It offers:

- A "thorough discussion of the management of complexity through systems design."

- A methodology of proven systems design that can "stimulate change in our educational system and our organizational practices and, through such changes, improve substantially the quality of design of large systems."

- More than 130 charts and diagrams that illustrate important data and concepts.

- Chapter summaries, references for further reading, and questions to strengthen understanding of information and aid systems development.

Reflecting more than 25 years of research, including more than 10 years of methodology development and testing, A Science of Generic Design is a valuable tool of change and growth for educators, leaders and managers in business, and members of political and legislative bodies.

Technical Notes

This November 2003 version is a good copy job, with clear bright PDF pages, but pages 9 - 18 are out of numerical order, and possibly more pages, be sure to check the page order before printing. Dan has software that can adjust page order nowadays. There is an October PDF version which has streaked pages but the pages are in correct order, which is probably WHY JOHN SENT NANCY THE OCTOBER PDF CD  for the disk to send if people wanted to order a CD.  (r.w. 2016) 

This THIRD EDITION, 2003, published and sold by AJAR, is a reproduction of the 1994 Second Edition issued by Iowa State University Press. It was produced in response to demand from those who have been unable to get the hardcover 1994 edition from other sources since it has gone out of print.

© 2003 John N. Warfield All rights reserved Library Cataloging Data Warfield, John N., 1925- A Science of Generic Design: Managing Complexity Through Systems Design, 3rd ed. Xl, 588p. (In 2 volumes) illus. 28cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Science–Philosophy 2. Complexity (Philosophy) 3. Systems design. I. Title TA168.W337 2003 ISBN 0-9716962-3-3 Cover design by Jerry Sheaffer.

This spiral bound softcover edition has 588 pages in two volumes, with an index at the end of the second volume. Published by AJAR but not offered for sale in Books in Print  (Books in Print offers ONLY the compact disk version from AJAR).  

In a hard copy printout, this book is a large unwieldy volume too heavy for soft cover binding unless split in two. John got only 8 HARD copies made, not using perfect binding but black spiral binding instead, and designed just for persons who really wanted the paper copy. We have this hard copy spiral bound 2 volume version at home in Rose's apartment.I don't know who has the other 7 copies.

Warfield did not donate a copy of the spiral bound 2003 reprint to GMU, because GMU Library already has it in the hard cover 1994 2nd edition,of which it is an exact copy.

HISTORY OF THE 2003 EDITION: From time to time Warfield was still receiving requests about the Generic Design book, so he decided to try one more time to get it printed for sale in some inexpensive format, by using SIR SPEEDY PRINTING a Largo, Florida print shop managed by Mr. Jerry Sheaffer. Jerry had previously produced paperback versions of other titles for AJAR (Warfield's publishing company established after his retirement and move to Florida). Because a word processor file would print out with much nicer looking pages, Jerry was eager to print ASOGD from a digital copy, but Warfield's collection of computer files for the book was just a chaotic bunch of archaic Ventura graphics and text. Jerry tried to assemble the Ventura files into the original book but failed (as we expected he would) However, Jerry had in his print shop a new high priced professional scanner which was capable of converting text and graphics to PDF format. So Warfield gave him the go ahead on trying to scan a paper manuscript, the same book manuscript that had been sent to Iowa State University Press in 1994. The resulting PDF document was quite clear and readable, even though not as sharp and nice as a print out from a word processor. Jerry created the first draft of the PDF files on 15 October 2003 and sent to us for proofing. A second, final PDF version by Jerry was created Nov. 12, in which Jerry put in corrected verso page, erased some pasted paper lines left in by the scanner, corrected some of the graphics positions so that they would print correctly on one page, added some title pages for the second volume, repositioned Warfield's biographical sketch for the back page of the text, and so forth. It is the 12 November pdf file which was used by Jerry to print 8 hard copy books (in 2 volumes spiral bound with black spiral binders). Jerry also created new front and back cover designs for the 2003 book, and these covers are also in pdf files. The book cover files are dated 15 October, and the final pdf files for the book manuscript are dated November Jerry had to produce the book in two volumes. For some reason either the scanner or print shop's binding would not work well with the entire 588 pages. But it is an exact reproduction of the text of the 1994 2nd edition ASOGD, except for Jerry's front outside cover design, which he composed himself. For the 2003 3rd edition, we added an updated verso page, two revised title pages listing Ajar Publishing Company, and a last page containing Warfield's most recent biography and photograph. Altogether it comes out a pretty presentable paperback edition which Warfield can sell at minimal cost the next time someone sends him a question about it. Jerry also put the PDF files on a compact disk, which Warfield will use as a master copy for selling a CD version. The PDF files are named: GENERIC DESIGN VOLUME 1, Adobe Acrobat document - 16,319KB and GENERIC DESIGN VOLUME 2, Adobe Acrobat document - 15,298KB. At last we finally have a good digital copy of that book, after about 15 years of struggle with the Ventura version. The CDs with pdf files will be for sale for $65.00 on the AJAR web site and in Books in Print. Warfield is not advertising the paperbacks, which he plans to keep at home just in case some one writes to him in the future wanting a hard copy. =========================

. I believe that GMU has a copy of the 2nd edition, in hard cover, but Warfield did not donate any of his 2003 3rd edition to the library. Perhaps they have some working papers or other documents associated with it, but I can't tell from studying the Finding Aid titles. (R.w. February, 2002, updated circa 2009)