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WHERE does Odesys stand for

Why do we often steer decisions based on what just one party wants, clinging to the illusion of free choice? Why do ‘conflicts of interest‘ so often result in an apparent compromise—where either the desired is impossible, or the possible is undesirable? Why do decision-makers keep their cards close to their chest, preventing stakeholders from truly collaborating in a ‘best-for-common-purpose’ approach? And finally, why do we focus on a ‘curated solution’ from just one player in complex situations—without questioning what problem it truly solves and without recognizing that the puzzle is part of a much larger whole?

Traditional systems engineering and management sciences fail to provide a constructive way forward, causing society to miss valuable opportunities. Odesys provides the solution. With an action-driven approach, it turns decision-making upside down and right side up by introducing the four-stage integrative framework of systems-, design-, social-, and slow thinking—an art of decision-making.

Through an open-ended design approach, Odesys purposefully transforms existing situations into desired outcomes within a physically feasible scope. The Preferendus, a neutral decision-making tool, aims for synthesis to arrive at best-fit solutions while integrating both individual freedom and technical design freedom—rooted in and serving the system as a whole. In doing so, Odesys brings a shared ideal within reach.

Odesys was developed under the leadership of Professor Wolfert at TU Delft, internationally published, and successfully applied in the infrastructure and built environment sectors. See this PDF for related scientific and industry commendations of this progressive approach.

WHAT does ODESYS cv offer

Are you a government organisation, engineering consultancy, contractor, or any other party involved in complex projects within the built environment? Do you have a project or programme where multiple interests are at stake and various physical solutions are possible—where the complexity exceeds human cognitive capacity?

Do you want to generate a best-fitting design, develop an optimal no-regret plan, or establish a targeted mitigation strategy across different development, engineering, or management stages of your project? And are you ready to tackle and resolve your creative conflicts? Then Odesys offers a 1) fast & smart, 2) best-fit, 3) glass-box, and 4) un-biased approach and solution for your complex challenges.

With a state-of-the-art methodology and powerful tools, Odesys helps you achieve a well-considered, feasible, and supported solution. We assist you in addressing these challenges—either by solving them together or by training professionals within your organisation so they can handle them independently in the future. This provides your organisation with a strategic edge over competitors and contributes to the community as a whole. See this PDF, for proven results from Odesys.

Last but not least, Odesys guarantees innovative learning through the Open Design Learning (ODL) concept and offers ‘academic courses‘ and ‘guest lectures‘. See this PDF for an overview and a proven education track-record.

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ODESYS has made its methodology available as ‘open-source’ through github.com/TUDelft-Odesys and/or github.com/Boskalis-python. Odesys has demonstrated tangible impact in collaboration with the following parties, both in project development, tenders, and ongoing projects.

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Herafter is a selection of recent publications and references that form the foundation of the Odesys methodology and the ODL (Open Design Learning) educational concept. These include application contexts such as the built environment, infrastructure, offshore, and energy systems..

1. A.R.M. Wolfert (2024). Confronting Projects Complexity – designing towards a best-fit for common purpose. Odesys white-paper, see the latest PDF
2. Teuber, L.G., & Wolfert, A.R.M. (2024). Confronting Conflicts to Yes: Untangling Wicked Problems with Odesys for Inland Windfarm developments. ArXiv, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2409.10549
3. Teuber, L.G., van Heukelum, H.J., & Wolfert, A. R. M. (2024). Advancing strategic planning and dynamic control of complex projects. ArXiv, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.12422
4. Van Heukelum, H.J., Binnekamp, R., & Wolfert, A.R.M. (2023). Socio-technical systems integration and design: a multi-objective optimisation method based on integrative preference maximisation. ArXiv or Structure & Infrastructure Engineering, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.07168 or https://doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2023.2297891
5. A.R.M. Wolfert (2023). Open Design Systems. IOS Press https://doi.org/10.3233/RIDS10 (or https://books.open.tudelft.nl/home/catalog/book/78)
6. Van Heukelum, H.J., Steenbrink, A.C., Colomés, O., Binnekamp, R., & Wolfert, A.R.M. (2023). Preference-based service life design of floating wind structures. Life-Cycle of Structures and Infrastructure Systems, https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003323020-116
7. Shang, Y., Binnekamp, R., & Wolfert, A.R.M. (2023). Multi-stakeholder service life design for rail level crossings. Life-Cycle of Structures and Infrastructure Systems, https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003323020-115
8. Zhilyaev, D., Binnekamp, R., & Wolfert, A.R.M. (2022). Best fit for common purpose: A multi-stakeholder design optimization methodology for construction management. Buildings, https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12050527

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1. A brand-new Academic White Paper titled “Confronting Projects Complexity – designing towards a best-fit for common purpose” is now available. Please refer to the latest PDF for more details.
2. Two new scientific articles are on-line. The first is entitled: “Advancing Open and Dynamic Planning & Control of Complex Projects”, in which both the MICO and SYPL concepts are introduced as part of the new Odycon methodology, see https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.12422 . The title of the second article to appear is: “Confronting Project Conflicts into Success: a Complex Systems Design Approach to Resolving Stalemates”, in which a windfarm stalemate has been resolved, see https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2409.10549.
3. Following the successful launch of the scientific and educational book Open Design Systems by A.R.M. (Rogier) Wolfert, two compact booklets are now in the pipeline. These introduce the Odesys methodology and its added value in an accessible form and for a wide audience (both in Dutch-speaking countries and beyond). The title of the new English-language book is Confronting Complexity – designing towards a best-fit for common purpose, see the latest preview. It deals with the ‘art & practice’ of managing complex projects from inception to implementation. It shows how the Odesys concepts concretely implement ‘Systems thinking Social & Design thinking Slow to: Agree First, Act Feasibly, Adapt Flexibly and Arrive at a Best Fit for Common Purpose’. The title of the new Dutch-language book is Besluitvorming op zijn Kop – beslissingen op een constructief spoor naar een gezamenlijk ideaal binnen bereik.
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5. A new multi-objective mitigation controller is available: the MICO (a further development and fully revised ‘MitC 2.0’). Moreover a new stochastic strategic planning tool SYPL is also available (an extension of the deterministic case in the Odesys book). These NextGen Dynamic Project Management & Control tools are Python based and make it possible to generate a best planning and mitigation strategies in all project phases from a multi-stakeholder perspective. These ‘preference-based’ decison tools can also be used in the tender phase to optimally design both linear and cyclic project plans.
6. The book Open Design Systems by A.R.M. (Rogier) Wolfert, contains ‘static’ Design Apllications. In addition, a Dynamic Odesys toolbox (Python based) is now exclusively available to simulate a Serious Game with the Preferendus and provide insight into other Odesys concepts. Contact ODESYS for more info and schedule a demo.
7. ODESYS provides in-company training (‘learning & development’) in the field of Design-, Project- and Engineering Asset Management. Important themes therein are PI/MI, PII/MII and PIII/MIII management systems, the Quality of Service (QoS) concept, socio-technical System Integration and the related Odesys & Odycon concepts & tools (Odesys Dynamic Toolbox) . These courses provide tailor-made solutions for your organisation’s Systems of Interest (SoIs). It is a wake-up call for the artful intelligence (co-creation) of your organisation.
8. ODESYS offers a new Best Fit for Common Life Cycle Value (LCV) workshop, where sustainability is really given a valuable & tranparant place at the design table rather than a ‘must do’ after the fact. This workshop provides state-of-the-art education on an Open Design Systems Methodology for Optimizing Service Life Design integrating systems life-cycle preference- (stakeholders – objectives/weights ) and performance functions (engineering assets – LCA behavior). Participants will be introduced to the computer-aided design engine the Preferendus for glass-box LCV design & decision making. For more info on the workshop, see the summary PDF and/or https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12050527.
9. From the beginning of this year, ODESYS cv has been associated with the Sleipnir Foundation (ANBI) https://sleipnir.nl. Ownership has been neutralised, i.e. ODESYS is not privately owned but ‘its own’. This also signalled that the ODESYS products are open publicly accessible under MIT licencse or equivalent CCs. In short, the ODESYS cv is going to do entrepreneurship differently together.