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Promise theory

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Method of analysis for systems of interacting components

Not to be confused with Futures and promises.

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An example promise theory diagram illustrating partial ordering of agents by promise.

Promise theory is a method of analysis suitable for studying any system of interacting components. In the context of information science, promise theory offers a methodology for organising and understanding systems by modelling voluntary cooperation between individual actors or agents, which make public their intentions to one another in the form of promises. Promise theory is grounded in graph theory and set theory.[1]

The goal of promise theory is to reveal the behavior of a whole by taking the viewpoint of the parts rather than the whole. In other words, it is a bottom-up, constructionist view of the world. Promise theory is not a technology or design methodology. It doesn't advocate any position or design principle, except as a method of analysis.[2]

Promise theory is being used in a variety of disciplines ranging from network (SDN)[3] and computer systems management[4] to organizations[5] and finance.[6]

History<br>[edit]

An early form of promise theory was proposed by physicist and computer scientist Mark Burgess in 2004,[3] initially in the context of information science, in order to solve observed problems with the use of obligation-based logics in computer management schemes, in particular for policy-based management.[7]

A collaboration between Burgess and Dutch computer scientist Jan Bergstra refined the model of a promise, which included the notion of impositions and the role of trust. The cooperation resulted in several books and many scientific papers covering a range of different applications.[1][6][8][9][10][11][12][13]

In spite of wider applications of promise theory, it was originally proposed by Burgess as a way of modelling the computer management software CFEngine and its autonomous behaviour. CFEngine had been under development since 1993[4] and Burgess had found that existing theories based on obligations were unsuitable as "they amounted to wishful thinking".[14] Consequently, CFEngine uses a model of autonomy - as implied by promise theory—both as a way of avoiding distributed inconsistency in policy and as a security principle against external attack. As of January 2023, more than 2700 companies are using CFEngine worldwide.[15]

Outside the configuration management and DevOps disciplines, promise theory had a slow start. In the essay Promise You A Rose Garden (2007)[14] Burgess used a more popular, less academic style, but it failed to widen the general visibility of the concept at the time. A few years later, in 2012, things changed when Cisco began using promise theory in their growing SDN initiatives, also known as Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI).[16] The tech media picked up the usage in 2013,[17][3][18][19] which led to a number of applications of promise theory in new disciplines in the years following, such as biology,[20] supply chain management,[21] design,[22] business/leadership[23][5] and systems architecture.[24] Tim O'Reilly discusses promise theory in his bestseller WTF: What's the Future.[25]

Key ideas<br>[edit]

Promise theory is described as a modeling tool or a method of analysis suitable for studying any system of interacting components. It is not a technology or design methodology and does not advocate any position or design principle, except as a method of analysis.[citation needed]

Agents<br>[edit]

Agents in promise theory are said to be autonomous, meaning that they are causally independent of one another. This independence implies that they cannot be controlled from without, they originate their own behaviours entirely from within, yet they can rely on one another's services through the making of promises to signal cooperation. Agents are thus self-determined until such a time as they partially or completely give up their independence by promising to accept guidance from other...