What is inherent in your system?
Architecture
We quite often think about the attributes of the system, the “-ilities” of the system, as those things that are inherent in the system. We architect the system to have certain attributes. The system is observable, or agile, or scalable, or any combination of the “-ilities”. These of course are fine attributes to analyze and purposefully build towards in a system.
Ghosts in the Machine
Just like in iRobot, there end up being ghosts in the machine. These are the things we do not purposefully build into the system, but somehow still end up emerging. Most obviously, bugs exist in our system. We did not intentionally put them there, yet they exist.
There sometimes are other subtle things that somehow live on in the system too. Accidental features. Bits that make the system easier to monitor. These things are accidentally inherent in the system. They are not intentionally designed or intentionally codified. Yet they are still inherent in the system. Accidental by-products. Some may be useful, and others may be harmful.